For as long as I can remember, the NYC real estate world shuts down for the month of August. There are fewer meetings, and if you have a client looking to buy a home, it’s a challenge to get an appointment. People (real estate agents) head out to the Hamptons, Upstate, Nantucket, or anywhere they have the opportunity to recharge and take some time off to enjoy the peak season of the summer. This is especially true this year since last year was cancelled. This is one of the reasons why marketing professionals almost never launch a project in August.
Then – when everyone returns in September – they are motivated and chomping at the bit.
About a year and a half I did a Ted Talk about the art of improvisation and the importance of taking the time to give yourself the freedom to jam. If you can spare 10 minutes, you can watch it here:
There’s a reason why our best ideas come to us when we least expect it (like in the shower). If we arbitrarily wait for these moments, they will never happen. Life is fast and most of us have way too much going on to sit back and relax while waiting for divine intervention. This is why we have plan for it. All of the great artists, inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs structure time in their schedules for unstructured thought. This is where the magic happens.
Schedule it in your calendar and make sure you have no distractions. If you infuse some August attitude into the other eleven months of the year you’ll be more productive and innovative.
Let’s do this!
-Shaun