I spend an hour every morning, meditating and journaling before I start my day. I’ve done this without fail for the past 3 years. It was a challenge initially but now, I absolutely love my hour of solitude. It’s by far the best habit that I’ve implemented and it makes me a better human. And here’s the best part:
I’m not the only crazy one.
Who else has a similar routine?
- Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon. He makes his executives write a 6 page mock press release, before any new idea is proposed. Why? He wants his executives to think deeply about the problem and proposed the solution. You can’t just cobble together bits and pieces to make a 6 page report. You have to spend the time thinking and writing. Usually alone. It’s an effective way to get his employees to think more.
- Sir Winston Churchill, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain. During the war, he took time out of his day to take a nap and paint. If he could find the time, then surely you can find some solitude time.
- Abraham Lincoln, Former US President during the Civil War. He constantly wrote letters and took walks to think. He once wrote a letter to an enemy, disparaging him and tearing him to shreds. Then he put it in his drawer and left it there. He wrote it to vent and cool his emotions.
- Cal Newport, author of 5 NYTimes bestselling books, a husband and father of 2 children and a tenured computer science professor at Georgetown, advocates carving out time to do “deep work” – time spent alone working on cognitively challenging problems. He spends about 15-20 hours a week in this state of deep work.
I could go on, but you get the point. It’s what the best in the world have done for years. It’s what true leaders do.
When do you think? When do you reflect on your day? When do you plan the strategy before going on the offensive?
If you’re not carving out the time and space to think, you’re falling behind. You’re doing your team a disservice. You’re failing to reach your full potential.
Maybe you should make the time to think?
A New Source Code 