Time to think

It’s wicked how easy it is to forget to think.

When we had our baby about 5 months ago now, I suddenly found myself with plenty of time to think, but less time to work than I was used to. I couldn’t sit down at the keyboard, but I could stand up at the whiteboard and think and sketch with Flora in the babybjorn.

It turned out that I did some great thinking. And when I did sit down at the computer I was more productive because I knew exactly what I needed to do, and the details were already thought through, so there were no dead ends and U-turns.

But recently I found that I had again gotten out of the habit of thinking.

I think it’s probably a heavy computer user syndrome. You get so used to doing everything with the computer - reading, writing, listening to music, watching TV and movies, talking to your friends - that you forget that it pays to have time, away from the computer, even for work.

So the other day, I was reminded once again, when I this Aristotle quote (thanks to Jason Fried):

Thinking requires leisure time.

It’s really quite simple. Thinking is an activity. Thinking takes time. It doesn’t just happen by itself. It only happens when you actively do it, or at least, when you have the time for it.

The upside is that it’s easier than you might think. At least I find that problems that have been lurking in the back of my mind and seemed a bit scary often have a simple, easy, and painless solution once I take the time to think them up.

So I’m going to take some time to think this holidays season. And I should probably put a reminder in my calendar for mid-January when I’ll have forgotten to think again.