Devote time to think
How many people budget serious thinking-time on their calendar, to
think afresh, strategically and differently in an open manner?
Don't we work on a budget for every other activity? Why this
difference? Is thinking less important than action? Do not take thinking
for granted.
Setting aside time to think on a regular basis can change your life.
Leave aside you being a leader or a follower in the work place, as an
ordinary human being, you can never act in a way that is bigger or
better than your thoughts.
Dedicating time to thinking allows your thoughts to unfold and helps
you manifest what you want. We all know that the action you take comes
from your thinking. What you think and focus on drives your reality.
That is why it is important to take the time to think.
Everything from quality of life, to work, relationships and health
are all based on the quality of thinking.
Talking
'You don't spend enough time to think'. Before you take offence to
that statement, consider how much time you spend talking, responding to
e-mails, even reading - my guess is that you spend more time doing any
one of them than you do for thinking.
Why do so many people claim they have had some stroke of genius while
in the shower? It's because they're alone with their thoughts for about
10 minutes without a phone, computer or book.
According to those who have achieved more from a shower than only
cleansing their bodies, that's all it took for them to come up with a
great idea to make the difference.
Multi-tasking
We're stuck in a society in which ADD has become the norm. We can't
entirely focus on anything for more than a short time. We're
self-described multi-taskers. We don't do one thing at a time - we do
two or three things at once. And we brag about it. We consider ourselves
models of efficiency.
We talk on the phone while we drive. We read a book while we
exercise. We respond to e-mail while sitting at a meeting.
We even play games on our phones while watching TV. We're connected
to our devices 24/7.
So how much uninterrupted time do you spend each day thinking? I'm
willing to bet it's not much and certainly not enough. You need time to
digest all the information you access using that technology.
You need to find a way to avoid those things - both self-inflicted
and caused by others - that interrupts your ability to find quiet time
to think.
Take 30 minutes either first thing in the morning or last thing at
night to be alone with your thoughts. Often, we busy ourselves with
things to do from the minute we wake up in the morning until we turn off
the lights at night. Most of us either watch TV or read in bed until the
lights go out and we fall asleep.
Then we wake up in the morning already on the run. How fast can we
get showered, grab tea or coffee, and get to the office where all those
distractions are?
Instead of rushing out of the door to get to office, how much could
be accomplished by simply being alone with your thoughts. Or instead of
watching late-night TV until you fall asleep, lie there and consider
everything you've done and learned that day and plan for the following
day.
Quiet time
It doesn't matter how or where you do it. Take time to think. If not,
you will spend your entire day doing and reacting, without much thought
to the value of those activities.
Your actions should be intentional and purposeful. For that to
happen, you must take time to be alone with your thoughts, work through
issues and contemplate the best course of action.
You need quiet time to allow that to happen. Often our best ideas -
those rare but often inspiring moments - have occurred after spending
hours working on a project or at a team meeting or in some sort of free
time where thinking is the only thing you can do due to physical
barriers.
But often they're unpredictable. Most successful people - whether
they're start-up entrepreneurs or corner office senior executives - know
that if they don't carve out time to think, they'll lose perspective and
fail to make smart decisions that can guide their company over the
long-term. |