If you feel you do not have enough time to think, look to consciously create time. I promise you it has power when built into your routine and structure.
“My working habits are simple: long periods of thinking, short periods of writing.”
Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway has a larger-than-life reputation for his life outside his writing, yet was it truly outside of his profession as a writer? I put it to you that everything he did in his life (not only when he sat at the typewriter) was around who he was, a thinker and writer.
I am no Hemingway, but do look to follow his method. On my simple home page, it notes that my core offering is “Authentic Insight“, providing to clients who seek to truly make a difference: “authentic, creative, relevant and actionable insights“. In order to best deliver upon that promise, I have designed my working life in a specific way. Two key elements of that design are that a) I am “always active, never busy”, consciously restricting the number of active clients I work with to under half of my time, and b) I rarely take on any deadline-based projects, so eliminating much of the “busy-ness” around work of that nature.
As a result of this design, I have time a) to meet people, listen, learn, be inspired (and, hopefully, sometimes to inspire others), then b) to think, to muse on ideas, to catalyze and distill insights. Some of these come forward as authentic insights timely and relevant for my clients, other ideas I share with a broader audience as topics for my daily posts.
Now, My clients are typically leaders of organisations who, earlier in their careers, were measured (and oft measured themselves) on how much they could get done in a day, a week, a month, a year. Once they shift to more of a leadership role, I often use with them the phrase: “the less you do, the more valuable you are to your business“. We all need time to think in order to see things clearly, have our own insights, make better decisions
If you feel you do not have enough time to think, look to consciously create time. It may start small, say 15 minutes each morning as you rise, or a similar amount of time before you go to bed to journal on your reflections of the day. Give yourself more time to think, I promise you it has power when built into your routine and structure.