Inspiration takes many forms. Inc. columnist Marc Berman uses the turbulent maiden voyage of the classic TV show, The Love Boat to remind us of a key method to jumpstart our creative process.
Beginning as a memoir from a cruise director, the concept was first turned into a 1976 made for TV movie that ABC didn’t pick up. A second movie, with a different captain, got the same answer, and producer Aaron Spelling blamed casting. Then came the cruise: Spelling once told Berman that the idea for honing the show came to him out at sea, not in a Hollywood studio. The next attempt, with Gavin MacLeod as a warm, down-to-earth captain, finally got the green light and ran for nine seasons.
Writing from a cruise ship (where else?), Berman sees the potential for inspiration. Most of us are addicted to busyness, and busy isn’t necessarily productive. Step away from the grind and the questions have the opportunity to change: Where is this company actually going? What should we stop doing? You end up at dinner next to a stranger who built a business, or who works in an industry you’ve never considered. With the noise turned down, an idea you’ve been chewing on for months suddenly clicks, or the problem you were trying to solve turns out to be the wrong one.
Obviously, it doesn’t have to be a cruise. It just has to be enough distance to see what’s in front of us in a different light. When something isn’t working, maybe the first step is to get out of the office.