The 79-year-old saxophonist known as “the greatest living improvisor” in jazz knows the value of pushing “pause” in a career that requires unlimited amounts of creativity and talent. 
On the lengthy sabbaticals Sonny Rollins has taken from playing, he devoted himself to solitary practice, studied Zen meditation in Japan, and even withdrew to a monastery in India. From 1959 to 1961, he withdrew from playing live and spent 16 hours a day practicing by himself, outdoors, on Manhattan’s Williamsburg bridge.
If you think this example has little relation to those of us working in the “real world” of seemingly uncreative businesses, consider what parts of your job might benefit from new thinking, problem solving, product and service innovations, and discovery of better ways of leading, selling, and communicating.
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