Here I go, thinking again

I talked in a previous post about being clear, but this last week, I achieved a moment of clarity.  Several moments actually- which felt quite nice!  I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the experience in the hopes to remind/inspire others to do the same.   

The best place to start is to stop for a minute and think about your typical day.  If it’s anything like mine, it’s pretty chaotic.  You move from one fire to the next while trying to make sure the fire you just put out doesn’t start up again.  Somewhere in your head swims the long-term strategy that you should be striving for as well as how you will get there.  But you never seem to slow down enough to make it to that next strategic step, or even get the chance envision what the next step is.  Sound familiar?

My moment of clarity occurred during a class I was taking.  The class was incredible in itself, but it also allowed me to get out of the fray for a little while.  I had a peaceful few minutes in between to let my brain settle, and suddenly I figured a few things out that I haven’t had a lot of time to figure out.  It was almost alarming how easily things just fell into place.  I wrote down my thoughts quickly before they escaped my head, though.  Good thoughts tend to do that!

My message today is simply this: there is no magic formula to what happened, no specific list of things to take away this time.  Just strive to find that quiet time (whatever is your version of quiet) to think.  As leaders, thinking time is invaluable.  So whether it’s a few quiet moments first thing in the morning when you get in the office, or on a crowded bus on the way home, or right before you go to bed, stop checking emails, stop facebooking or linkedin-ing, just stop doing everything…and don’t even try to think.  Just be and your brain will do the work for you.