Many of us work in organizations and cultures where there is a bias to action and "doing things" continuously. Sadly, taking time to think is becoming a lost art - yet many of us benefit from it tremendously when we take the time to do it. In this show, I examine seven ways that you can stop and think just a bit more on a regular basis.

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7 Ways To Stop and Think

Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, posted an article this past week titled The Importance of Scheduling Nothing. Here are seven ways that you can also stop and think:

1) Stop telling yourself the lie that next week/month/year will be better

2) Book time to think each day, especially if you are a scheduler

Dedicate time each day to think
If you really want to discover what's important to you, check your calendar and your bank account
Check out this advice from Ursula Barnes, the CEO of Xerox

3) Brainstorm with yourself before brainstorming with others

Check out the interview with Leigh Thompson on the most recent HBR Ideacast highlighting the truth about creative teams

4) Turn things off

Turn off the phone and email
Here's a recent New York Times article citing research on the importance of freeing our brains

5) Write stuff down

Check out David Allen's book Getting Things Done
Michael Hyatt produced a podcast on the Lost Art of Note-Taking on episode #47 of his show, This Is Your Life
I use the Moleskine notebook for Evernote for all my note-taking...but it's more important you have and use a system, than what the system is

6) Put things into "later" buckets

I do this most actively for physical mail, bills, and online articles
I use Pocket to save things to read later
I use Buffer to queue posts to my social networks

7) Start saying no to more

Start with something small
Are you getting at least as much as your are giving? (financial, enjoyment, love, contribution to the world)
I've left some professional organizations where the above wasn't the case

Bonus) Eliminate choices that may seem sacred

Get rid of TV?
Do you need to always be tied into the internet?

This week, I'm taking 15 minutes every day to stop and think...please join me. Connect online to discuss your results!

Thank you to Carmel Purdey, Mad Oo, MIchael Oneski, and Emad Aladawee for either liking our page on Facebook, following me on Google+, or following me on Twitter.

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