As we all get ready for our summer holidays, I want to talk about the classic Raymond Briggs story The Snowman.
Steve's finally lost it, you think. His quest for a meaningful story to inspire us agency founders every Monday morning has tipped him over the edge. He needs a break.
Well, yes, you might be right. But wait — remember the famous song from the movie version of The Snowman, "We're walking in the air..."?
Although it epitomises snowy Christmases to so many, it was actually written by composer Howard Blake on a hot, sunny beach during his summer holiday.
He says he was so relaxed and happy he felt he was floating on air — and got the idea of 'walking in the air'. He scribbled down the song, but couldn't think of how to use it, so filed it away.
Then, one day, at a meeting with a TV production company for another show, they revealed storyboards for a new animated movie they were working on, about a boy who befriends a snowman and flies to the north pole.
"I might just have something for that," he said.
And then magic happened.
Your brain comes up with its very best creations when you are so relaxed and happy that you feel like you are floating on air. Not when you're feeling tired or pressured and your head is so full that things are falling out of your ears.
Taking time out to achieve that results in having a back pocket full of ideas and insights that can serve you later.
Let yourself have a proper holiday this summer.
Yes, it's fine to have your brain whirr away in the background on strategy, dreams, or ideas. Founders can't stop that, it's at the core of who we are — and in the resting state of our brains it happens more than ever.
But you can avoid actually doing anything. No deadlines, no commitments, no demands, no replying to emails.
Relax, read, play. And see if you can get to feeling you're floating on air.
Oh, and pack a notebook.
Over the next few weeks I'm going to send very brief Summer Reflections editions of Agency Espresso. Just giving you one simple thought a week to let your founder-brain noodle away on in the background.
Read that email each Monday morning and ignore the rest of your inbox (you can set up forwarding to your personal email address for a few weeks for extra inbox avoidance points).
We'll get back to normal in September, with a short practical series on getting the five fundamentals in your agency humming along smoothly.
Have a great summer.