Despite being the “thinking organ”, the brain seems to prefer action over reflection. In the modern world, we are measured by the amount of hours we put in, the number of countries we have visited, and the length of meetings we have attended. No value is placed on the act of thinking, contemplating, and reflecting. When we do give ourselves time to gaze out the window, sit in the park, and scribble some thoughts in a notebook, it’s often regarded as a waste of time to the critical outside eye. However, it’s often during those empty hours of reflection that life’s real work unfolds.
Most businesses and ventures fail not for a lack of effort or action, but because people haven’t taken the time to think things through enough. “They have omitted to pass their plans through the robust sieve of their own intelligence. Eventually, all ideas will be judged by reality; what thinking allows us to do is anticipate problems before they have grown too large and too costly.”
“A thinking culture is not one without achievement; it is one that properly understands the role played by good thinking in the delivery of good work.” From the outside, it might look less productive in the traditional sense, but the real work is happening inside our brains.