Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.

These insights are used by businesses and organisations to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.

Let us know what you find valuable!

Jason: A long drive 

I drove 18 hours across last Friday to Monday for work to speak to grape growers in their territories, and to visit where I was born in country Victoria. A place I didn’t visit for around 15 years and then, in recent years, every couple of years for a funeral, when the relative is worth the trip. I get to briefly see cousins, aunties and uncles, get in trouble for not seeing some, and visit places I have rarely been, but that somehow feel familiar. I left Swan Hill when I was two, so quite a few years ago. On the long drives I got thinking about the value of having time to be bored, just space to think and the open road. It is great, especially when you have control of the aux. Remote, Teams, and Zoom are all great but isn’t the same. Most creativity doesn’t come from being busy and distracted, but from simply doing what you need to do: a long walk or a long drive. Time to think, to solve issues. To turn the brain off to chaos and focus.

Dylan: Downtime for productivity

Time anxiety is the nagging feeling that you’re always racing the clock, even when nothing urgent is happening. To me it feels like a tiny internal time-keeper constantly asking whether you’re doing enough or doing it fast enough. This pressure can turn even regular moments or tasks into a nagging urge to hurry and your mind can feel like a source of constant activity. This is why I place so much importance on deliberate rest. Truly stepping away, slowing down, and resetting, breaking the cycle by reminding your brain that it doesn’t have to be “on” to be valuable. In fact, the better you rest on purpose, the less time anxiety gets to run the show and the more productive you can be.

Mahalia: The kids are alright

This past Wednesday a nation wide ban of under 16-year-olds on social media rolled out, with the government blocking teenagers from 10 platforms, including Kick, Threads, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, X, Twitch, Reddit and YouTube. But haven’t we learnt from past experiments that bans just lead to moving activity underground, exposing youngsters to even greater risks? While social media has it’s negative impacts, it is also a space for isolated children to connect with likeminded peers based on shared passions, identities, and interests. A ban also takes the onus off of social media companies like META to properly regulate their outputs, and drives the conversation away from their corporate responsibility to punitive measures aimed at young people. Wouldn’t it be better to create stronger relationships and trust with young people, where the discussion and reflection of what they consume online is based around critical thinking and analysis?

Think your business or organisation could do with some insights? Contact us here.