Welcome to another edition of Weekend Wisdom, a weekly publication where I bring wise and inspiring words from people I admire. My goal with this is to share ideas and thoughts that influence my actions as a person and also my writing.
I don't dare to imagine I am anywhere close to the level of enlightenment that most of the people I will feature in this series have. Still, as a lifelong learner, I aim to get as close as possible and, maybe, contribute a little to your journey in the process.
James Clear on making time to think
Two things before we get down to business:
First, I'm posting this edition of Weekend Wisdom one day later than usual because I hurt my shoulder a couple of days ago, and I just could not type yesterday. I'm better now and will do my best to stick to the schedule in the future.
Second, I was planning to bring a quote from a different author for a change, but Mr. James Clear outdid himself (as he usually does) and brought a killer quote in his last newsletter, so I just couldn't avoid talking about it.
Let's see what he has to say:
"The reason people get good ideas in the shower is because it's the only time during the day when most people are away from screens long enough to think clearly. The lesson is not to take more showers, but rather to make more time to think."
Wow. Just wow.
Not only is this a great quote, but it is also very related to what is going on in my life at the moment.
I'm taking a leadership course at work. It's not something I was really excited about, but it's mandatory for management roles, so there was nothing I could do about it.
As it turns out, the program is actually very good. The career coach who runs it is a very experienced person with a lot of practical knowledge. Completely different from the charlatans you see on TV or on the internet claiming they can get you to "shift your mindset" for a very modest fee of 10k dollars.
But I digress. During the last session of the leadership program, I was discussing with my group how I thought that we don't prioritize time to think.
The other people in the group were confused for a moment. "What do you mean? We think all the time!"
Do we, really?
In my experience, we spend a lot of time reacting to things that are thrown at us but very little time actually disconnecting from everything and just... thinking.
There is just too much noise in our lives, and the fact that we are all so mentally exhausted by the end of the day gives a false impression that we did a lot of thinking when, in reality, we didn't.
So, from now on, I'm trying to block some time in my schedule to think. No fancy methodology, no inspirational podcasts, nothing. Just myself, a blank sheet of paper (because I want to avoid anything that could create a distraction, such as the screens of my phone or laptop) and a pen.
I don't know what to expect but as someone who had quite a few good ideas in the shower, I think this "thinking time" will not be wasted.