MAKE TIME TO THINK

 

MAKE TIME TO THINK

 

I am blessed to be able to meet interesting people from all walks of like regularly because of the work I do. I meet film makers, poets, brilliant college students, wise teachers and visionary entrepreneurs. Each one of these encounters has taught me something and shaped my perspective. I had dinner recently with one of Asia’s top CEOs. Asked him the secret of his outrageous success. He smiled: “I make the time to think”. Every morning, he spend at least 45 minutes with his eyes closed, deep in reflection. He’s not meditating. He’s not praying. He’s thinking.

 

Sometimes he’s analyzing business challenges. Other times he’s thinking about new markets. Still other times he’s being introspective on the meaning of life and what he wants it to stand for. Often, he’s simply dreaming up new ways to grow personally and professionally. Every once in a while, he’ll spend between six and eight hours doing this. Sitting silently. Still. With his eyes closed. Thinking.

 

Making the time to think is a superb strategy for success at leadership and in life. Too many people spend the best hours of their days solely engaged in doing, on the execution aspect of things. Recently a client said to me: “Robin, sometimes I get so busy that I don’t even know what I’m so busy doing.” But what if he’s busy with the wrong things” Few things are disappointing as investing all your time, energy and potential climbing a mountain only to find – once at the top – that you climbed the wrong one. Thinking and reflection ensures that you’re on the right mountain. Peter Drucker, said is to well: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that should not be done at all”

 

Being thoughtful and strategic is step number one as you walk to greatness. Clarity precedes success. By thinking more, you will have a better sense of your priorities and what you need to focus on. Your actions will be more crisp and deliberate and intentional. You will make better decisions and wiser choices. More time thinking will make you less reactive. You’ll become clearer on the best uses of your time (which will, in turn, save you time). And your “think time” will provoke some amazing ideas and inspire some big dreams. Lewis Carroll addressed this point beautifully in Alice in Wonderland when he wrote: “There’s no use in trying” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things”. “I daresay you haven’t had much practice” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”.

 

“Peter Drucker, said it so well: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that should not be done at all”