May 1, 2009
Thinking Time
Do you feel guilty for taking time to think?
Thinking is important; really important…so why are we embarrassed when we are caught thinking? Thinking is not the same as daydreaming. Deep, productive thought cannot always be accomplished while multi-tasking. Just because you are not typing on your keyboard doesn’t mean that nothing is being done.
I think we are harder on ourselves then we realize when it comes to taking time to think. In fact, we actually stop ourselves from thinking when that little voice in our head says, “You need to get busy!” We’re so used to jumping when we hear our inner voice that we don’t even challenge that thought. Try answering that thought with: ‘Hey, I am busy, I am thinking and you (voice) are interrupting!”
When you let your thoughts be interrupted by the notion that you need to get busy, the outcome is potentially dangerous. Here are some reasons why:
- Incomplete thoughts lead to unforeseen problems
- You can lose your ability to complete a thought before acting (getting trigger happy)
- You will be stumped when someone asks you if you’ve “thought this through”
- You can miss the obvious better solution
- You depend on others input so much that you’re really just copying their thoughts – losing your originality
- It becomes your habit to rely on crutches to help you with your thoughts (Google, spell check)
So, I’m suggesting you take some time to think, fight the urge to look busy and see how your quality of work improves.
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Paige Eissinger said,
May 5, 2009 @ 7:03 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I often get in that situation where I really do need time to think things through and often enough, I end up not thinking about an issue as much as I really need to. I have a suggestion for those who just HAVE to be doing something…mindmapping. If you need to think about something, map it while you’re thinking. You’ll be “doing” something so that nagging little voice will hush up and you’ll be getting in that time to think, too. An added benefit is that you’ll be capturing your thoughts at the same time in a format that you can review later.
Great post, Mary!!
Suzanne said,
May 5, 2009 @ 10:43 am
I’m so glad you agree with “Thinking Time”, and you’re right - mindmapping is an excellent way of structuring your time spent thinking (plus it helps you remember what great ideas you thought up in the process!) Did you see Mary’s post on mindmapping, “Ideas on one Page” ? We love mindmaps around here!