While 2020 has been a year of withdrawal, 2021 promises to be a return to a “more normal” mode of operation. The Covid-19 quarantine effects broke our normal pattern–not only for living but also for business operations. Great innovation and creativity often stream from periods of “withdrawal and return.” The break in regular routines can provide new and useful perspectives that are applicable to a range of conditions.
This reminds me of Toynbee’s theory of “Withdrawal and Return”
“The creative personality undergoes a duality of movement we call withdrawal and return. The withdrawal makes it possible for the personality to realize powers within himself which might have remained dormant if he had not been released for the time being from his social toils and trammels. Such a withdrawal may be a voluntary action on his part or it may be forced upon him by circumstances beyond his control; in either case the withdrawal is an opportunity, and perhaps a necessary condition, for transfiguration. But a transfiguration in solitude can have no purpose, and perhaps even no meaning, except as a prelude to the return of the transfigured personality into the social milieu out of which he had originally come:”
Arnold Toynbee A Study of History: “Withdrawal and Return: Individual”
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Organize your experiment so you don’t become lost in exploring for solutions to a problem.
About SKMurphy, Inc.
SKMurphy, Inc. offers customer development services for startup entrepreneurs. We help founders generate leads and close deals to grow your business. Our focus is on early customers and early revenue for technology and expertise products.
