Swerving

I find that the biggest limitation of working alone is the isolation. Not so much the social stuff as I work in the creative sector of one of the world's great cities so conversation with other self-employed types is pretty much always available. Rather, my challenge is with intellectual isolation. Put simply: -

How do I put myself in the path of new ideas?

In his book Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, Steven Johnson explores the importance of the 'swerve' as a key driver in the formation of creative cities. This is the phenomenon whereby you discover something unexpected whilst looking for something else. Swerving costs you nothing except time. It used to be called 'serendipity': -

Serendipity (n). an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident

My problem is that because I don't leave home to go to work I'm far less likely to encounter the unexpected. Working from home means I don't get to swerve.

It's hard to use the internet to put yourself in the path of new ideas, especially if you like your ideas to be well-written. We are each a prisoner of our own Bookmarks. This is why the 'old media' guides to the internet are still popular; they present a swerving opportunity. Otherwise we're likely to use the internet to confirm, not challenge our thinking.

Nick Cohen, writing in Standpoint Magazine, puts it thus: -

On the net, as in the rest of life, team-building does not lead to sceptical questioning but to the reinforcement of their existing opinions and loyalties

My advice is to balance internet usage with subscriptions to magazines that pay their contributors enough to attract first rate minds who can really write. Not only will you regularly be put in the path of new ideas but once a week you'll get the best possible fillip to the isolation of working from home: the thud of something exciting dropping through the mail slot.