We all have our routines. One thing that I really enjoy is taking my dogs for a walk in the morning. I enjoy this more when it’s sunny like today, rather than when it’s -40 and a blizzard, but regardless of the weather, it happens.

This time in the morning wakes up my body and my brain. It gives me time to thinking about what I have scheduled that day, what I’d like to get done that’s not in my schedule and, most importantly, time to just let my thoughts wander. It’s during these walks on sunny days like today that my wandering thoughts will become wandering productive thoughts – at work we’d call this brainstorming.

This morning on the walk I was thinking about what to write about today for this blog. My thoughts then jumped to the press conference that I’m organizing in Amsterdam. I started thinking about that market and how I was going to ensure that I captured the right tone for our European media. I started thinking about what they’d enjoy and what would best create the right connection.  I’m aiming for a non-traditional event that will stick with them. Something beyond the routine press conference. Well my routine got me thinking about ways to make this a very non-routine event.  (Cue the music montage!)

Time Ideas recently published an article called Why Morning Routines Are Creativity Killers. Is says that: “… the way most of us spend our mornings is exactly counter to the conditions that neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists tell us promote flexible, open-minded thinking.” The article surmises that in order to maximize our creative process we need to allow time in our mornings to actually think, rather than rushing from our bed into the office. Seems that I’m on the right track here with my morning dog walk… and this article validates my morning cup of joe to boot!