Quickness, availability, information overload, and hyperactivity are signs of this time. How much time do you regularly take for yourself? How much time do you take to purely relax? Now we will even take a step further … how much time do you take to think?

I am not talking about those short moments in which you seek solutions for pressing problems or to answer a question. I am talking about relaxed, planned, strung together time periods, in which you think through strategies, reflect on larger life or business questions, or simply take time to develop a vision for the future. We are talking about at least 45 minutes or, even better, one to two hours of undisturbed time in an environment that really fosters this, and that also on a regular basis. No calls, e-mails, SMS’s or other distractions. Only quietness and the endless possibilities of thought. These are moments in which we see more clearly and get both feet grounded again. Times when we clearly see our goals and recognize what is sensible and what is not.

The actionism in which we are often caught, drives us and we accomplish a lot – I don’t want to negate that – but how often do we reach goals to then determine that we arrived at the wrong goal?

Peter Drucker, a well known economist, poignantly described this phenomena: “There is nothing more useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all!”

How can you build more of this time to think into your life, especially when you believe that you do not have any time? Well, like everything else in life, it starts with a firm intention. If it is important enough for you, you will free up time, just like you would for a hospital stay, for example, after having a heart attack. All of a sudden its possible. In the beginning it might seem unusual and strange, to just sit there without doing something physically … just to think. But with some practice and the necessary amount of openness you will notice how much richer and focused your life becomes. You waste less time with unimportant or wrong things and through that have more time to think!

What do you “think” about today’s theme? How good are you at it or how well do you build in “thinking time” into your life? Write about it  here in the Blog...

Movie

Like a cup of coffee, an inspirational movie to bring life into persective.

Play ...

Quotes

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.

Ralph Charell

All the problems of the world could be settled if people were only willing to think. The trouble is that people very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.

Thomas J. Watson