In 2007, J.K Rowling was struggling to finish the last of the Harry Potter books, “The Deathly Hallows”.
In an interview with Oprah, she confessed that it was so difficult to concentrate at home that she checked herself into a suite at a five-star hotel down the street from her own home:
“As I was finishing Deathly Hallows there came a day where the window cleaner came, the kids were at home, the dogs were barking. So I came to this hotel because it’s a beautiful hotel, but I didn’t intend to stay here. But the first day’s writing went well so I kept coming back… and I ended up finishing the last of the Harry Potter books.”
This strategy, of removing yourself from your usual location to gain inspiration and creativity to complete a task, is called the “Grand Gesture”, and Cal Newport writes about it in his new book “Slow Productivity”:
“By leveraging a radical change to your normal environment, coupled perhaps with a significant investment of effort or money, all dedicated toward supporting a deep work task, you increase the perceived importance of the task. This boost in importance reduces your minds instinct to procrastinate and delivers an injection of motivation and energy”
If you could use a Grand Gesture to give yourself a kick in the butt, Ann Carden is hosting a luxury retreat that can help with that.
There are a few spots remaining, details here:
