“While a man, infatuated with the promises of greatness, wastes his hours and days in attendance and solicitation, the honest opportunities of improving his condition pass by without his notice; he neglects to cultivate his own barren soil, because he expects every moment to be placed in regions of spontaneous fertility, and is seldom roused from his delusion but by the gripe of distress, which he cannot resist, and the sense of evils which cannot be remedied.”
Samuel Johnson: Rambler #163 (October 8, 1751)

I am conflicted about idleness, sometimes to my creative detriment. Isn’t idleness laziness? In truth, though, I know that my creative output is richer when I balance it with daydreaming and wandering. I simply know I can’t be on and creative all the time — I need to regenerate.

So do teams. How, in a team environment, can you cultivate your team’s barren soil? Do you need lots of uninterrupted time together? Or time apart? Should you allow for individual idleness or idle together — maybe go to the movies as a group?

Happy weekend, people. Go be idle.