Take 20% to stop & smell the roses.

Have you ever heard of Google’s 20% time? No? Well, you should and so should your boss.

This morning our CEO, Nate mentioned it and I had no idea what he was talking about (which happens often). I think we all want to implement this concept into our workweek but it tends to be put on the back burner.

Google engineers are offered “20-percent time” where they are permitted to work on whatever floats their boats. It entails embracing what you’re passionate about and molding unrestricted idea flow into actualities. Then in 24 hours the team presents their ideas for immediate feedback.

When’s the last time you sat at your desk and thought? Thought about why you came to work and what makes you tick. Then took that and turned them into concepts that could benefit you and your company? Which is the reason AdSense, Google + and Google Suggest exist. According to Nate, “Google scratches the record and inspires their employees with autonomy, flexibility and an immediate feedback cycle which replaces the useless annual or bi-annual review process.”

Don’t forget – there’s no I in team. Working together in small groups is encouraged. While at breakfast this morning with the Innerspire team, we were brainstorming idea after idea on how to enhance our Tri City Expo booth. The first idea was good, the second was great, the third was better and so on and so forth. Our ideas spread like wildfire. Now we have about a dozen ideas and the tough part is picking which one to go with. You’ll have to visit our booth and let us know if we picked the right one!

Moral of the story? Everyone is always pressing the notion, “Do what you like, like what you do,” and in this case I say LOVE what you do.  Use that passion to think of new ideas that can then be tangible. So, take a few minutes (or 20% of your work day) and think.