A few years ago I was a regular member of Literary Cleveland’s “Early Ink” writing club. The club was open every morning at 6:00.
We didn’t workshop each other’s drafts. We didn’t share what we were working on. We got on a call, said hello, and wrote. Silently. For up to two hours.
It sounds strange but it worked remarkably well.
Nobody pushed anyone. Nobody checked in. People came and went as they needed. But, when the time was over, we’d done the thing that was easy to put off.
The accountability wasn’t pressure. It was just the quiet knowledge that someone else had blocked the same time and would be there when I logged on.
I’ve been thinking about that lately.
Protected thinking time is one of those things most leaders know they need and almost nobody actually keeps. Not because they don’t value it. Because it’s the easiest thing to give away. A meeting request lands. A question needs an answer. The calendar fills from the outside in.
Early Ink didn’t solve that just by adding discipline. It solved it by adding company. Writing, like leadership, can be lonely. And nobody wanted to be the one who didn’t show up. Once you were there, the work came easier than it did alone.
I’m holding lunchtime on Wednesdays for that same reason. Office Hours. Come with a question or just come to work. Either way, you won’t be keeping the time by yourself.
Join me for Office Hours here.