With The Speed of Your Job, You’re Not Taking Enough Time For This
I use my phone as my alarm clock.
First thing I do when I wake up is pick up my phone. This is a familiar routine for many of us.
This isn’t when the screen time ends though. We flood our down time with screen time and there’s no signs this will change anytime soon.
What Does This Have to Do With My Job?
The best ideas we have are a product of consumption and then serendipity.
They hit you when you least expect it.
This is why showers have the reputation for being where some of the best ideas come from.
(That is until people realize modern water proof phones can be used in the shower. But that’s a whole other issues…)
This isn’t a rant about screens though (I love my Essential Phone). This is a call to arms for scheduled reflection.
Why Should You Take Time to Reflect
Consumption is important. It’s good to take in content and be a sponge, but it’s equally as important to give those ideas space to commingle and create new ideas. This only comes with time to think.
There are many ways to do this:
- Write in a journal (or better yet free writing your thoughts)
- Go for a walk alone
- Go to the bathroom without your phone
While these are all things I do (except for maybe the third one…), there’s one way that I’ve found even more effective.
The Best Way to Reflect
This will sound incredibly simple but schedule the time.
Having time scheduled to reflect every week will force the habit since these moments are always the first thing to suffer when “more important” issues come up.
Scheduled reflection is about taking time to be proactive as apposed to always being reactive.
Here are the ground rules:
- Give yourself an hour each session
- Get out of your normal environment if possible, ideally behind a closed door
- Turn your phone on do not disturb and don’t bring a laptop. (Exception is for music, which is not only acceptable, but encouraged)
- Write on pen and paper
You have to create an environment where you can sit down with a pen and paper and avoid distractions. That’s the goal.
I know a lot of people use laptops for notes but don’t. Use a pen and paper.
The Easiest Things Are Also The Hardest
This sounds like it will be easy, but I promise you it is not.
You’ll need to figure out what the best cadence for you is, but I think most people in leadership roles should devote at least 3 hours a week to strategic time. If you’re used to putting out fires all day, 3 hours per week will actually be much harder than it sounds.
The best way to get started is to just do one hour a week.
Go to your calendar now and setup a recurring meeting for one day a week for an hour.
Did you do it? Okay. Good.
Why did I only suggest one hour to start?
If you’re not used to this, it will feel very strange and that hour will be hard. It will get easier, especially once you start seeing 10x results from taking the time.
Once you’re comfortable with these sessions, begin adding more throughout the week. I suggest adding an additional hour each quarter until you get to 3 hours a week.
You can add time faster or slower than that and that’s okay. I promise you will want to add more time as you start seeing the benefits.
What Now?
The hard part is keeping it up and using that time effectively.
I’ve found that one good way to do this is to keep a list of questions (or spend your first sessions just writing questions). These questions will be thought starters. From there you can think or you can free write about the topic. I do a combination of both of these.
Don’t judge the ideas and thoughts that come out. Some ideas will be bad, some thoughts will make no sense, but just move on to the next things.
Here’s some question thought starters that I use:
- What are an employees strengths — And how can you give them more projects that align to these strengths
- What is your companies larger mission
- What does success look like in 3 months — 6 months — 1 year — 5 years, etc.
- What growth stage is the company/product in and how does that align to the product lifecycle?
- How has our company culture changed and what are the values the employees are reinforcing to their peers? Does this match what you say the culture is?
- Does our team view change as a negative or positive? Do they resist it or welcome it?
- Have you been spending my time effectively? Are you prioritizing enough time on the projects that are driving results?
- What process or meetings are you doing that are no longer relevant or not working like you wanted them to.
- How has your audience/prospect changed over time? What do you need to adapt to get ahead of this change?
- What gaps exist that are preventing you from hitting our goals?
Ask yourself the hard questions.
Hard questions are always the easiest questions to avoid but they will always give you the biggest impact.
That’s it. That’s the process. The only next step is to take action on what comes out of your sessions. That part is on you.
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