Why Don’t You?… just switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead?

(Or, if you’re under 40, let’s just call this article: ‘The Importance of Being Idle’. Totes welcome, fellow young people.)

I’ve been meaning to write this for some time — but I was leisurely procrastinating.

?After a very inspiring meeting with the lovely Sarah Newman Director at The Account Planning Group (APG)?last week where she told me they’d conducted some proper grown-up research into this very area - I was galvanised into action.?

So here goes. Slowly.?

?Those of you who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s will remember?Why Don’t You?.?It was cult TV and cult-viewing: a team of slightly anarchic kids telling you to get out and do fun stuff like BMX biking or building dens or camping in the woods or making things out of papier-maché or - possibly illegally - starting fires. Lil’ Ant McPartlin and his fellow presenter pals urged you to get off your sofa (once you’d finished watching their show, of course) and do anything -?everything?- that fired your beautiful imagination.?

?It was my desperate childhood dream to be on that team of kids — but although they had different groups in different regions, sadly none came from Scunthorpe.?

?What does this tragic tale have to do with media strategy, though?

?Read on. In your own time.??

?I think it was my very clever friend and ex -boss Mark Palmer who first introduced me to the concept of working ‘Smarter not Harder’?

A few years ago, when I started at TikTok, I was managing a team of talented strategists and had the job of inspiring them in a busy, fast-paced, often stressful, start-up environment. And I did something naughty. Ish. I told them to be sure to take time out to be bored. And a bit lazy. Except I didn’t use those words: I told them to BE CURIOUS. (More on this later)

The anti-pep-talk was inspired by brilliant author and legendary ‘Mad’ Man? Rory Sutherland ?who kindly agreed to do a talk for me back in a previous job I had.?

?I’ll never forget him showing this diagram…

Let’s dissect.?

1. All businesses want those people in the top left quadrant. Of course you do! They are the grafters: turning out decks/charts/award entries, and filling every second with work, work, work.?This is great. But IMHO, if all you do is stay head down, churning out the work you miss things. You make mistakes. You even get to burn out. Do you really create work that is thoughtful and unique in this way?

2. No-one wants lazy and stupid. But at least lazy and stupid can’t damage your business.

?3. Those dangerous ones are in the bottom right quadrant: churning out a lot of rubbish that makes your business look really rather awful.?

4. The ones you REALLY want? According to Rory, and I totally agree, they’re in the top right box. Probably on a chaise longue. These people are the smart ones: the ones who understand The Importance of Being Idle. They get to answers quickly. They take time to think; they make links; they connect the dots. They understand that you can take shortcuts to save time. They look in places others don’t; they challenge existing thinking; and here is how I think they do it…

?They’re indolent…

To be smart and lazy isn’t a bad thing. (By ‘lazy’ I mean curious, interested, and, yes, sometimes I mean doing sweet FA — because that ‘percolating’ time is vital.)

They’re thieves…

To be a great strategist - and this is the opposite of a bad thing - you need to steal with pride from others, collecting brilliant gems every day, in every situation, building nests of glorious and precious information that you can then plunder for inspiration. You need to be an eccentric magpie: a collector of odd facts and figures; an artful work-dodging dodger nicking bits from books, art, films, music, TV, real life, sports, hobbies, other people’s brains… and hoarding them all in your personal library of weirdness. And to do this well, you need TIME. You cannot do this whilst working 24/7. And sometimes you find the best time by being bored. Being bored forces you to be creative. (Just look at children playing if you don’t believe me.)

Bit of a sell here: A strategist’s cheat if you will. TikTok is a treasure trove of inspiration. Stuck for ideas? Need insights into a community or an audience? Want to see what’s trending? Get scrolling and I promise you will find a ton of rabbit holes to go down. You’ll find everything on there from the obvious areas of fashion, sport, food, books, cars, but also the more obscure stuff like Regencycore, Witchtok, Tinned Fishtok (thanks Marcos Angelides for alerting me to THIS one!) and Goblincore. Get on there and steal with pride. You can also use our creative centre to see trending hashtags, topics, ads – the works: sign up here https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/pc/en

Coming back to my earlier point about managing the brand strategy team at TikTok. By telling them to take time out of the daily grind, I was really saying ‘Why don’t you?…’ and encouraging them to go get inspired. Take a walk by the river. Sit in a coffee shop and people watch. Read a book. Watch a short film or TV show about something you have zero interest in. Bake a cake. Clean the bathroom. Sit outside and think about stuff. Just stuff. Be. Bored.?

?This - in that space - is where I think genius happens.?

The legendary? Sir John Hegarty ?once told me he always tells creatives to look up: to look around them for inspiration; not to walk along with headphones in, staring at the floor. More fantastic advice.?

Me and my fellow ‘eccentric magpie’? Dan Cresta ?like to meet up on random late afternoons for a glass of wine — and we always make a point of talking to the people at the next table. You would not believe the number of great stories we’ve heard, the interesting people (and dogs) we’ve met, and the amount of inspiration these encounters have given us.?“Oh, you live on Eel Pie Island and used to hang with Mick Jagger….tell us everything!”

While we’re on wine… If you are lucky enough to be invited to the Groucho Club (or to become a member), do it! I have never entered that hallowed venue without meeting someone who has inspired me in some way. It’s a magical serendipitous place where you can’t help but get chatting to fascinating people sitting by you or sharing your table. I’ve met writers, comedians, artists, poets… and my new favourite broadcasting beauty? Bibi Lynch ?who has helped me edit this piece…?(ahem, I could refer here to the last piece I wrote on here about building networks and being nice to people)

I have a lovely example from my wonderful team that I’m sure Thuy Tao won’t mind me sharing. She was writing a short narrative about how fragrance brands can show up on TikTok — and she reached that ‘Aargh’ point. So she stuck on a podcast and went for a walk.?

The podcast featured chef Heston Blumenthal talking about our olfactory auditory senses — basically how our sense of smell can be affected by sound. And, bingo, Thuy gets her inspiration: TikTok is a ‘sound on’ platform; she now has her insight; and writes a brilliant strategy that won over the perfume brands.?

Let me end with a short note thanking my friend (he’ll deny it) and boss Trevor Johnson for allowing me to work in this way — and although he would never dream of speaking to a stranger in a coffee shop or bar, he is a kindred spirit when it comes to picking up knowledge, making connections, and finding those shortcuts. The business needs more people like him. I’ve never met anyone who knows so much about running companies but who claims to hate reading books.?Smarter not harder. (He also works strange hours like me too, another trait of us Eccentric Magpies)

?Now I’ve convinced you to take an hour or two out, please do share your recommendations for ‘switch(ing) off your television set and go(ing out) and do(ing) something less boring instead. Add them in the comments (so I can steal them)

?Maybe there’s even a podcast in this…? Me interviewing fellow ‘eccentric magpies’ on where they get their inspiration. Who’s in? What should we call it? For the love of God, make it something catchier than?Wdyjsoytsagoadslbi??We have our RSI to think about.

?Anyway, I must get back to that novel I started writing twenty years ago……

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