The Value of Thinking

Never underestimate the value of thinking! Thinking is what sets human beings apart from the animals. In business—and in most parts of life, if you want to get right down to it—it's actually one of the highest and best uses of your time, because of the leverage it provides. One foggy idea can crystallize into something really, really valuable. The ancient Greek philosopher Archimedes once said, "Give me a long enough lever and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." Thinking is that lever.

If you can block out 10-15 minutes daily to think hard about your career and how you can do things faster, easier, more conveniently, more comfortably, and in a more rewarding way, then that might just be the most valuable time you spend all day. Make no mistake: I'm not referring to absent-minded daydreaming here. I'm talking about focused thinking about a subject. If you have a frustration, it's very valuable to spend time thinking hard on how to solve that problem.

There's a mistaken belief that work must involve moving around, pushing papers around, and a frantic level of activity. I believe you should test the definition of work. Suppose, over the course of a few days, you thought long and hard about how to reduce refunds…and as a matter of fact, you came up with a way to cut refunds by a third. Clearly, this would be enormously valuable to the company. Or suppose you spent your thinking time modeling your position, thinking through how all your systems operated and innovating faster shortcuts. The time and effort savings you'd get in the long haul could very well be staggering.

Again, this is why thinking is so valuable: it's a great form of leverage. If you can think of how to automate something you now do manually, that's excellent. If you can think of how to group steps of a process (or eliminate them altogether), that's wonderful. If you can think of how to create a new system to give you a result you don't currently get, that's sensational!

The way to the promised land is through higher and better, more dedicated, and more focused thought. So put your thinking cap on and have at it!