Have you ever noticed that many of your best ideas come at times that you don’t expect them?
Maybe they show up while you are in the shower. Or maybe they wake you up from a dream in the middle of he night.
We all have times, and places, that we seem to do our best thinking. Where is that place for you?
Personally, I do my best thinking is in the shower. There is just something about a warm shower that allows me to relax and let my mind focus.
Maybe you are the same. But the shower shouldn’t be the only place that you take some time to think.
If you want to achieve anything that relies on idea generation (and all of us do in some way) you need to make time to think at other times of the day.
Did you know that the average American only takes 7 minutes of quiet time to think every day. The rest of our free time is consumed by staring at our handheld electronics, watching television, and socializing.
Ok to be honest I made up that statistic, but I don’t believe it is all that inaccurate.
We are all guilty of filling our time with pointless things such as killing time on social media sites, mindless web browsing, and watching tv.
When was the last time you were bored? I mean truly bored. I bet it hasn’t happened in a long time.
We need to create more time, and space, in situations that could lead to boredom.
The idea is not to create boredom itself, but to create the possibility to be bored. By intentionally choosing not to be glued to your phone, or tv, you can free up time that you are currently using in a non-productive way. Once your time is free you can choose to be bored, or you can use your newly found free time to do something more productive.
The best way to use this newly found free time is to spend it in quiet thought. It is in the moments of quiet thought that our minds can become free and we can come up with good ideas. We can essentially create the “shower” anywhere that we want.
3 Ways to Have More Time to Think
- Create some space in your schedule. Is your schedule jam packed like most people’s? It’s so easy to try to take on everything we can, and pack our schedule full. In fact many of us schedule more to do than we can ever make time for. It is important to control your own schedule rather than letting it control you. Schedule some time for yourself. Schedule some time just to think. At first this may seem like you are being lazy, but in reality these may be the best minutes you spend all day.
- Reclaim some time. How do you spend your lunch? Do you ever eat alone? If you do eat alone, do you spend your time eating and looking at your phone? Next time you go to a restaurant at lunch take a look around at all the people who are eating by themselves and I bet you that most of them will be glued to their phones. This can be a perfect time to get in some quiet time and do some thinking. You don’t need the restaurant to be quiet. Just allow yourself to sit in silence and do some thinking while you eat.
- Start your day before the sun comes up. What time do you get up in the morning? Most people only wake up with enough time to shower, grab breakfast, and get to work. Some people don’t even give themselves that much time. Try something new tomorrow. Set your alarm a little earlier than normal so that you can give yourself some quiet time in the morning before your days gets going. This can be some of the best thinking time, and it’s a great way to get your day started out on the right foot.
It’s time to take control of your day. Don’t just hope that you will have time to think and work on ideas, you need to be intentional about making that time.
Challenge yourself to schedule some quiet thinking time into your day today. It doesn’t need to be too much, start out small. Give yourself 15 or 20 minutes and you will be amazed at the quality of that time.
Question: How much time do you spend each day in quiet thought? Join in on the conversation on Facebook or Twitter!
