Hermitage as a way to increase productivity

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Serious work is impossible without deep loneliness. Pablo Picasso

Greg McKeown is an English American writer and business coach. He holds a BA in Communications from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Stanford University.

He is the author of books and magazine articles on business, leadership and design. In particular, his book “Multipliers. Multipliers: How The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (2010), co-authored with Liz Wiseman, is a Wall Street Journal bestseller and one of the top 20 books on Amazon.

But recently Greg McKeon "went into monasticism."

Of course, there is no religious connotation here.

McKeon was faced with the serious task of writing a book. But the lifestyle that he led (constant meetings, calls, local stresses) did not allow him to fully devote himself to this fundamental mental work.

McKeon is a renowned business coach. He has lectured at companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter and others. He is currently the CEO of THIS, a leadership strategy company headquartered in Silicon Valley.

A year ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and sat on my bed. I wanted to, but could not sleep. "I will never meet the deadline," I sighed. There were two news. The good news was that the other day the publisher agreed to publish my first "solo" book. Bad news - I have to write it.

Greg McKeon approached the problem quite radically. After consulting with his wife, he became a "hermit" while working on the book.

In practice, this was expressed in the fact that he spent in a confined space, alone with himself, 20 hours a day (from 5 am to 1 am) 5 days a week, for 9 months. He worked almost all this time.

McKeon equipped for this a tiny "cell", a mini-office (see photo), where, despite the small space, he found creative freedom.

For colleagues and partners, McKeon left a message on his answering machine something like this:

Dear friends, I am currently working on a new book. It takes all my time. Therefore, I will not be able to promptly respond to your message. My apologies. Greg.

At the same time, to the deepest surprise of McKeon, no one took it as nonsense, did not swear or accuse him of irresponsibility. People reacted to Greg's "recluse" absolutely normal.

The work in a reclusive mode bore fruit. According to McKeon, he did not have to strain and force himself to write - the words just flowed and by themselves fit into sentences.

From the point of view of personal life, there were also many advantages. The wife was sympathetic to his idea and helped him. Greg was spending much more time with his family than before (they socialized during lunch and after 4 pm when McKeon did his daily “literary quota”).

I was very upset when my hermitage came to an end. So much so that a few weeks after "returning to the world" I began to think again about retreat.

Many people find McKeon's approach too extreme. But, according to him, there is nothing unusual about him. After all, we live in a crazy world, at breakneck speeds. Closing for a while in a "monastic cell" is a smart step in an extreme environment.