We all have about 6,200 thoughts per day as we go about our daily lives and sometimes these thoughts can be a distraction to what we're doing because we'll jump from one thing to another. It can throw off your focus so you're not completely dedicated to the task at hand. This could come right in the middle of working on a big project and then the thoughts occur of what are you going to eat later for dinner, what time are you going to get home, when is this project going to be completed? All these thoughts disrupt the flow state that you were in and it can be difficult to get back into that rhythm that takes as much as 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back on task. Because there is a tendency to do this, it can feel overwhelming that you have too much to do.
Having so much on your plate that you go from one thing to another makes it feel like you're on a continuous treadmill and you become mentally fatigued from constantly being in go mode. Things like having one meeting after another that takes up the majority of your day or all the different tasks that you have to complete to make sure things get done on time. Having a schedule where it feels like it's nonstop can feel exhausting because there's very little time to catch your breath and process what you're going through. While multitasking might seem like a good solution it actually reduces productivity by up to 40%. To help overcome all that weight that you're lifting up, evaluating what's on your mind and being intentional with it. This is a necessity that is going to help you work through the things that you experienced, plan out your day, and regroup to have a clear mind so you know what to focus on.
There is the perception that your day is filled with so many things that need to get done and for you to maximize your time and energy you continuously need to be busy to be productive. Taking the time to think can be viewed as time wasted that is not serving your productivity. The whole notion of time is money is understandable but not every minute or even every hour needs to be dedicated to producing actual results because it can lead to burnout. Many times what we need is the ability to get out of focusing on all the details because it does require a lot of energy that can feel draining and taking some time away from this can help your creative side flow. To see things in abstract manners helps you gain clarity of what you envision. It’s a place to let your mind wander to accept ideas you think about.
If you look at the workplace the average employee is productive for 4 hours and 48 minutes a day. That’s only 60% of the average 8-hour workday. While freelance workers are productive for 87% of their workday. The difference between the two is that the average workplace it's structured like a factory to manufacture results on an hourly basis, to function like clockwork whereas freelance workers find a routine that works for them and this will vary for each person. This makes the average workplace a one size fits all whereas the freelance environment is customizable that suits each individual to best fits them. Can you imagine trying to run in a size 6 shoe when you're a size 8. It’s going to make you a less effective runner because your feet are being forced into a size that is impacting you from properly functioning. Taking the time to think gives you the ability to find your best fit.
Think about where your great ideas come from. It might be when you're staring up at the sky or when you’re taking a walk. These are key times for your mind to decompress and allow you to be free to reflect and think. As you take the time to think, remove all the distractions so you can process your thoughts. When you give yourself the time to do this you work on things you're contemplating, find solutions to the problems you're facing and give yourself enough time to get acclimated that brings greater calmness. You'll start to uncover things that you might have overlooked that could prevent certain mistakes from happening or reveal things that brings greater clarity to your life.
With enough time to think through things you'll find many answers that you were looking for through asking the right questions. Many times, it's not the answers that is hard to find but it's knowing what questions to ask. When you don't give yourself enough time to think about what questions you should ask there's going to be a tendency to ask what you've already asked before or assume things. Maybe you'll word it differently but this is going to produce the same or similar results to what you've done in the past. It's human nature for us to find the quickest or easiest route but it does take time to know what the proper question is.
Set time to think
Look at how you can incorporate taking the time to think into your daily life. Set out of time where you're going to just think, put it on your agenda or calendar for a set period where it will be just that. And it can be as much time as you want, maybe you only need 10 minutes to think things through or an hour. But whatever it is, find something that works for you. It gives you the opportunity to just ponder things to almost clear out some thoughts that might distract you later on. Some of the common things that you might process during this time is what are you going to eat for lunch, what time are you going to leave the house, what are you going to get done this week, how much progress have you made towards the goals you've set or why haven't you made as much progress towards the goals you've set.
Having this set time to do this gives you greater clarity on when to let my mind wander but also of when work needs to get done. This can be helpful when you’re hitting a wall and not progressing. You might find out that you’re just distracted by something that you’re thinking about that requires your full attention. It's almost like thoughts tug on your shirt to tell you, I need your full attention because I have something that you need to be aware of. That thought just needs to be properly acknowledged by you and when you do this it can put you at ease. If you try to ignore it, it will just continuously be a distraction so you might as well get it over it.
Effectively you’re actually blocking out this time to process more of those 6,200 thoughts you have on a daily basis. The more you can get through them throughout day, the more clarity and assurance you gain that allows you to operate with a greater focus. It's almost like you’re putting that self-doubt and the things that are holding you back away.
What to think about
If you're having trouble knowing what exactly to think about the great thing is that it's all entirely up to you. It can be anything and everything really like should you workout today, your dreams and aspirations, what is bothering you or sometimes just think about things in general. Thinking about the big picture is also a great go to subject to think about because it includes an array of different topics that you can let your mind wander to. Let your mind just flow and ponder all the possibilities, this gives you greater optimism towards what is yet to come. It’s priming yourself to get you in the right frame of mind of what can be done.
Not giving yourself the time to do this will make that survival piece come out in you. The less time you give yourself to think the more negativity will take over because of what's been ingrained into our brains. The more time you give yourself to think the more conscious you become of the negativity that you're thinking that gives you a greater chance at finding ways to overcome it. This is a skill that's really overlooked so it does not develop enough because it does take some energy to work through. So, if your initial thought is to pursue something ambitious and right away your focus is on why you can’t do it or at least why it's difficult to you'll be accustomed to stopping when it starts to get hard. That the moment you approach a wall is the moment you retreat because it is a sign you are not meant to have it. But with enough time you'll work through this and realize that maybe I am being lazy and trying to find shortcuts. You'll start to realize that you can think your way through the obstacles that you're facing.
Have honest conversations with yourself
Having honest conversations with yourself will fuel your growth. Find out your strengths and weaknesses and really be honest with yourself. Don't try to lie to build yourself up to what you're not at this point but also don't sell yourself short. Your self-talk will help you get you moving forward so you can continuously make progress but these conversations that you have with yourself are starting points for where you are realistically. It's working through the discomfort of knowing you need to improve on how you handle things like adversity. This can be a difficult thing to do because we are biased towards ourselves. We don’t want to feel bad so the survival instinct will be to expel the thoughts or information that shows our shortcomings. The time to process this will help you become acclimated to going through these thoughts so you can better handle where you need to improve on. Would you rather realize this on your own or somebody tell you where you came up short? We're able to accept this a little bit better if we realize this on our own as opposed to somebody else telling us because it makes us feel like we're being attacked.
As you go through this it'll be similar to the five stages of grief where you'll be in denial, then be angry, start to bargain with yourself, become depressed, and eventually accept it. If you can aim to just get past the denial phase it can propel you forward into everything else because the urge will be to resist taking in that objective information. The stages you go through might not follow the same order for everyone and you'll experience them at different times. But once you can move past that denial stage it might even push you forward to finish out those remaining stages to the point where you can move past this and be better for it. The more you retreat from each stage the more likely you are to not move past certain things. Allowing yourself to go through the thoughts you have with the emotions you're processing can make you more receptive to bettering yourself.
This also works the same way for selling yourself short. You got to work through the thoughts that you have of the areas that you are strong at and use them to your advantage. While it's important to prevent the ego from taking over you have got to establish that confidence within yourself. Just because you came up short of achieving the goal that you see for yourself it's not an all or nothing scenario that if you didn't reach it, you're a failure. You must think about all the things that you done to get up to that point because what if you did 93% well and you're only short by 7%. Do you really want to say that 93% was just a total waste? How is that going to serve you going forward. This is just going to damage your confidence and you need to find a way to build on the foundation that you laid. Look at it to see how much progress you made.
Too many times the destination of where you are going is measured by how quickly you get there. It took Michael Jordan 7 years before he helped the Chicago Bulls win their first championship. Those years they fell short were key to eventually breaking through. It served as the purpose for why they eventually won, and you can do the same. Every step closer you take should be seen as what you can do. If you can get where you are currently at, how much further can you reach. View falling short as a way to fuel your fire and to gain an appreciation for the process. Aim to process the things you did well and the things that you didn't and then you can work to formulate a plan on how to improve. But this comes through taking the time to think that is going to help you stay composed, especially during emotional times. If not, you'll just start cherry picking certain things to make yourself look really good or look really bad that will lead you to being more emotional. The more emotional you are the less in control you become that's going to lead to bad, impulsive decisions.
Ask questions
Get in the habit of asking yourself questions or just asking things in general where you interview yourself or you interview these thoughts that you have. The more you come to ask the more you come to understand. These questions that you ask yourself could be monumental in which direction you take. Without them you'll be oblivious to how you're going about your everyday life, not knowing that there are other ways or options. Ronald Reed who was a gas station attendant amassed $8 million over his lifetime investing as much of his money into several individual stocks. He was a man who was just very curious and took enough for initiative to grow his financial worth. These things all start with taking the time to process your thoughts and he at some point realized he had enough money to cover his cost and could invest the rest.
There is tremendous power and value in asking questions that can really impact the quality of your life. Some questions to just start asking yourself are how can I make myself better each and every day or what do I want out of life more than just a steady paycheck? Or asking yourself what can I do where I live fulfilled and still have all my costs covered? What are the things that I struggle with the most and how can I overcome them? Why do I struggle with those things? What was my greatest failure that propelled me forward? What was the most uncomfortable conversation or reality check that I have experienced that made me better? These questions can take some time but once you thoughtfully answer them they will have a meaningful impact on how you see things and possibly on how you choose to live.
Confidence in decision making
Eventually what you gain from consistently taking the time to think is that your confident grows in your decision making. Being able to properly think things through is like a dry run or a rehearsal for the action you're going to take. While you don't want to overthink things to the point where it causes inaction it's important to layout the scenarios that you've gone through to be ahead of potential challenges that might arise. Just like there is a spare tire and a jack in many cars it's there in case you get a flat tire. Somebody thought enough ahead to prepare drivers so they can change out the tire and go about their business. I'm sure there's many people who's been in that scenario that later said, man I I'm glad I had that spare tire and Jack. But without thinking this through you will need to call somebody to get towed or get a ride for a new tire.
This is especially true when it comes to making big decisions in your life because they're going to have an impact on not just you but the people around you. By giving it the proper thought, you lay out scenarios and questions that you envisioned before they might actually happen. It gives you greater confidence knowing when you do make that decision that you have prepared yourself for the things that may arise. You are less likely to be caught off guard. People tend to get hit by the bus that they don't see coming so this helps you see the bus so you can avoid being hit. While you may not know all the things that can happen and how things play out, you gain a sense of preparation that helps you take responsibility that allows you to act with composure and avoid panicking. Composure helps you handle yourself in tough times so you can pivot quickly whereas panicking makes you run for cover that stifles you. Many times, just having an idea of the ramifications of your decisions is enough to move you forward. Without enough thought you are more likely not to make a decision on a timely manner, make no decision at all that or make a decision that blindsides you that effects your confidence. This can lead to hesitation and indecision going forward.
Final thoughts
By taking the time to think you gain greater clarity that helps you see the big picture and the details that go along with it. With all the thoughts you have you give it enough time to process what's going on so you can operate with a greater focus that improves everything that you do. It declutters and removes all the distractions that once felt overwhelming. You come to have those honest and difficult conversations with yourself that's going to help you to be better for it where you leverage your strengths and manage your weaknesses to continuously improve on him. It helps you to work through many of the uncertainties and questions that you have that makes you more confident going forward.
The thought of taking the time to think might seem silly and even boring but do not underestimate how it can transform you to see beyond just today and even tomorrow. You come to see the potential to capitalize on unique opportunities that reduce the risk. This is what's going to help you be good and not just lucky at what you do. Your thoughts serve as a speed bump to make you pay attention of what's ahead of you. Will you choose to not pay attention that leads to a car crash or will you slow down and see what is coming.
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