How Ian Fleming used "Quiet Quitting" to Create James Bond

CF: “That winter he wrote a draft of Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel.”

Author

Brock Swinson
August 08, 2024

Ian Fleming used “Quiet Quitting” to create James Bond. In the next 2 minutes, I’ll show you how (forwarded this email? — join 3k prolific writers here).

What else is going on in Prolific Community this week?

Writers, Take an Annual 2-Month Vacation

Ian Fleming with Sean Connery

In 1952, Ian Fleming used “Quiet Quitting” to create James Bond.

How? After the war, Ian Fleming, accepted a job with Kelsey Newspapers. 

Based on his work with British Naval Intelligence, he was hired to work with overseas correspondents. 

But he had one condition…

Fleming’s contract said he would work only 10 months of the year.

The other 2 months, he would take an extended vacation. 

He took this vacation on a 15-acre property near Oracabessa Bay.

He called the ramshackle estate, Goldeneye. 

Snorkeling, Writing, and Drinking Martinis no doubt.

Goldeneye was a beautiful location he found while researching German U-boat activity in the Caribbean. 

He fell in love with the property and vowed to one day to return. 

At Goldeneye, it started with simple leisure activities:

  • Snorkeling in the morning

  • Drinking in the afternoons

Simple relief to dreary London winters. 

But this is when perhaps the most iconic character of all time came to him. 

Daniel Craig in No Time to Die

Author Cal Newport confirms, 

“That winter he wrote a draft of Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel.”

We can’t all have an island, but in the book, Slow Productivity, Newport breaks down ways to steal aspects this method from Ian Fleming:

The Slow Productivity way to “Quiet Quit:”

  • Implement “Small Seasonality” Work

  • Schedule No Meeting Mondays

  • Work in Cycles or Seasons 

  • Go See a Monthly Matinee Movie

  • Schedule Rest Projects

What’s the main idea for all of this?

“The general goal for this proposition is to help you avoid working at a constant state of anxious high energy, with little change, throughout the year.”

Call Newport, Slow Productivity

As for Fleming, well, while at Goldeneye…

The British author wrote 12 novels and 2 collections of short stories between 1951 and 1964 about 007, while snorkeling and drinking at his Jamaican home.

What would you write if you had two months off this year?

Reply to this email or let me know right here on X. 

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