For most of my career, there have been conversations about “going down the rabbit hole”.
What is a Rabbit Hole?
At work, this often refers to the experience of becoming deeply absorbed or distracted by a task, topic, or series of tasks and topics that take you away from your original focus or goal.
Leading to time and energy spent on activities that don’t directly contribute to the intended objective.
This could be when we start doing online research on one topic and end up deep in information about something completely different.
Or, in a meeting, a group starts talking about one topic and ends up discussing something else.
A little research suggested two additional uses of the phrase.
First, this can be an intentional deep dive into research or exploration that leads to new insights, creative thinking, innovation, or unexpected discoveries.
The second use is to describe entering a complex or chaotic situation, often characterized by confusion and unpredictability – like Alice in Wonderland.
These situations can be unpredictable and cause us to feel overwhelmed and out of control.
However, even though they are difficult they provide the same potential for discovery.
A Great Point of View
A recent LinkedIn post by one of my all-time favorite futurists, Faith Popcorn, made me smile and want to expand my thinking on the rabbit hole. She said,
“Let’s not demean people for going down rabbit holes. Rabbit holes are where you find all the hidden carrots. They’re down there. Go down rabbit holes. Be curious.”
– Faith Popcorn
My Perspective
There can be challenging aspects to going down the rabbit hole.
Distraction, time consumption, and loss of current productivity just to name a few.
Yet, we can’t forget why it happened – curiosity.
We wanted to understand something, even if it’s not immediately relevant.
Someday in the future, that little bit of information may create a chain reaction in our mind.
Discovering connections that would have otherwise not been possible.
With lives full of too many items on the to-do list.
We should be celebrating the curiosity and creativity that can emerge from the rabbit holes.
Your Turn
Do you find yourself frequently down rabbit holes?
What innovations and insights can you track back to a rabbit hole?
Could you intentionally choose one this week?