The world attempts to rob you of thinking time. Take that time back.
Bing! Your attention is averted from what you were doing because a text message just came in. You impulsively grab your phone to check the message and the message totally takes your mind away from what you were focusing on to what was in the text message.
You respond to the text message and ask yourself “where was I” Oh yes, I recall.” 3 minutes later your computer dings as a new email comes in. You repeat the cycle until you look up and it’s time to leave work. On your way home, you are focusing on driving safely while listening to the radio. You get lost in your favorite song for just a moment or two and then comes commercials, advertisements, and the news. This takes your mind from the song to the commercial to the advertisement to the news.
You get home and start some laundry and start dinner, let the dogs out, sweep the kitchen, tend to the kids, and next thing you know it’s time to wind down for the night and get ready to repeat the same thing tomorrow.
We live in a world today that does not allow us to stop and think for any length of time. We have countless interruptions and distractions. Interruptions are outside things that throw us off. Distractions are things we do to ourselves that derail us.
Have you ever wondered why you have so many thoughts and ideas while taking a shower or when you lay down to sleep or while working out at the gym? That’s because that is usually the only few opportunities you have to just think without distraction. You finally get just a moment to think. And that is only if you are not listening to something that takes your mind away from independent thought.
A decade ago, you had one extra moment to think: while using the restroom. Now cell phones have stolen that moment from us as well.
Action, in many cases, is king. But execution is not always the answer. If you are not executing the right things it is never the answer. Strategic living requires independent thought, taking a moment to just be, to take it all in, to ponder, to wonder, to use what God gave us, this miraculous computer called our brain.
Most people spend more time planning one small, short, rushed vacation than they do their entire lives. If you changed direction just 2% per week, you would end up in a 100% different place in just one short year, yet most people never take a break to think about their lives and make slight adjustments that allows for that dramatic outcome. They end up in a marriage that dies or is hanging on by a thread. They raise children that they never actually got to raise. They work hard at a job only to get promotions with extra responsibilities and later, in much misery realize this was never their dream. They are now working hours they hate, have mounting responsibilities, pressures, deadlines, all for the sake of a slightly higher paycheck. They don’t tell their money where to go, so it leaves. They wind up in so much debt that they feel they can never pay it off. They see someone else successfully launch the business idea that they had first. Years go by seemingly faster and faster and faster until one day they look in the mirror, they notice a wrinkle they had never noticed before, and they finally stop for a moment and reflect and think… “how in the world did I end up here? This is not where I ever wanted to be.”
The good news is you can stop today and take a moment to think. Just by pausing and thinking and strategizing, your life will dramatically improve. Society will attempt to shut your mind off and turn the world on. I encourage you to shut the world off and turn your mind on. That is the Strategic Life way.
To support this concept, considering what others have said about this same thing:
“Memento Mori.” is Latin. Memento means “to remember, to bear in mind”, usually serving as a warning: “remember!” Mori is the present active infinitive of morior, literally meaning “to die.” In other words, “remember death” or “remember that you will die” reminds us that life is short. Let us frequently take a moment and think, ponder, wonder and strategize. This is where your greatness comes from, your best ideas, your biggest breakthroughs, your most significant work, your deepest thought, your highest intellect, your largest contribution to society. Check out this coin by clicking here
“We recommend scheduling a clarity break. A clarity break is a regularly scheduled appointment on your calendar with yourself. You define what regular is – a half hour daily, two hours weekly, a half day monthly. It’s up to you. The doing of it is what matters.” – Gino Wickman – author of Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business
“Deloading blocks must be scheduled and defended more strongly than your business commitments. Deloading for business consists of strategically taking my foot off of the gas—unplugging and *&%$#$% around.” – Tim Ferriss, author of 4 Hour Work Week, 4 Hour Body, Tools of Titans, Tribe of Mentors, and creator of the Tim Ferriss Podcast
“To close the gap and get from where you are to where you want to be, it takes alignment within yourself — and the power to unlock and unleash. Developing a daily practice that primes you for opportunity, impact, and success can mean the difference between living the life of your dreams and settling for what you tolerate. And it all starts with your physical state.” – Tony Robbins
“What thinkest thou?” – Jesus – Matthew 22:17 – the Holy Bible
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” – Buddha
“The only thing that makes a man a man is his mind. Everything else can be found in a pig or a horse.” – Archibald MacLeish
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain
“In these days of constant work and connection, taking time to do nothing is one of the most difficult agenda items. But it’s more important than ever.” – Outside Magazine
“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 – the Holy Bible
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
“True happiness… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.” – Seneca the Younger
“Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charell
“The day is always his who works with serenity and great aims.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Feeling is what you get for thinking the way that you do.” – Marilyn vos Savant, highest IQ ever recorded
“The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.” – Milan Kundera
“You are becoming your most current dominant thought.” – John Addison – Author of Real Leadership
“The mindset itself is not fixed. You can change your mindset just by thinking it through.” – Derek Sivers – Author of Anything You Want and Founder of CD Baby
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill – Author of Think & Grow Rich
“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” – James Allen – Author of As A Man Thinketh
