The Blog
I read David Ogilvy’s book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” once. (Ok, I think I almost finished it.) And quite frankly, it kind of made my head hurt. It was a long time ago, but I remember there seemed to be a lot of rules, long discussions about research, etc. (Some things about marketing don’t really seem to change). But I do remember one part that made an impression on me. I thought about it this weekend. And it was Mr. Ogilvy’s take on the importance of vacations.
He wrote, “…I take frequent vacations, so that my brain can lie fallow-no golf, no cocktail parties, no tennis, no bridge, no concentration; only a bicycle.
‘While thus employed in doing nothing, I receive a constant stream of telegrams from my unconscious, and these become the raw material for my advertisements. But more is required, hard work, an open mind, and ungovernable curiosity.”
Well said. And there’s too little of it going on.
It also reminds me of my favorite line from “Young Men and Fire” by Norman Maclean (a book I highly recommend). The quote as I remember is “it is in the slow times that truth and art are found as one.” And time and again I’ve found that to be true.
It sounds easy but it’s not. If you don’t believe me, go to a park, sit on a bench and do nothing for 30 minutes. Nothing. 30 minutes. Seriously. It’s really hard. The first time I tried it, it took me about a month of practice to actually get up to 30 minutes.
I spent the 4th of July weekend on the shores of Puget Sound (above) and Hood Canal doing a lot nothing (we’ll, there was the kickball game, the balloon toss and the ceremonial blowing stuff up). It was fantastic. But pretty much, I tried to put my mind in neutral.
Hope you found the time to “let your brain lie fallow” during the 4th of July break. If you didn’t, you should try it sometime. It’s pretty amazing.
