I love to travel. It gets me out of my day-to-day routine.
It also gives me time to think.
This April I was awarded plenty of time to think. My trip to NYC to facilitate a Lumina Spark Qualification brought me from Minneapolis to New York City. Two nice long legs of air travel to read, ponder, and think.
On the last day of class, I overheard someone mumble as she looked at her phone, “ . . . should be fine if they can get out of here sooner than later; the storms look bad.” Being from Minnesota with rare weather-delayed flights, I wasn’t worried. My mistake. When I arrived at the airport, my flight was not only delayed, it was canceled. Next flight to Minneapolis? In 3 days. THREE DAYS!? That was way more “thinking time” than I thought I needed.
Long story short, I made it home in two days, not three. The good news, meeting a delightful professor from upstate NY. In our many travel conversations, she shared with me her concern that the students entering universities today seem to be more interested in “checking off” the task-list to graduation versus spending time learning how to think critically and creatively.
That gave me food for thought.
How do we carve out time to think? How can we brush up on critical and creative thinking skills in our heavily structured, task-driven workplaces?
The following tips might help.
- Schedule “Think Time”– Our brain needs time to think. If you are so scheduled with “tasks”, your brain doesn’t have time to work. From a 10-minute break, to a couple of days on the weekend, to extended vacations, we need to provide our brain some down time to ponder and reflect.
- Get out of your day-to-day routine– The break in the routine helps us to start noticing what we might be missing daily. It not only gives us time to pause, but also a vacation from what might have become mundane.
- Fuel your brain– It’s important to read, travel, chat, watch, and listen. Our brain needs food for thought. Just like feeding our body, we need to feed our brain a strong diet of richness and variety.
- Journal– Capturing our thoughts in writing/drawing allows us to digest the “food” we are taking in. Reflecting on our life experiences and what it means to us as we move forward on our journey, gives us excellent think time.
- Use metaphors– Metaphors can shift our frame of reference and help us see things in a new and creative light. Michael Michalko, author of ThinkerToys and Creative Thinkering, says, “Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, believing that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.”
- Find a Mentor – A mentor can teach and guide us. Choose someone who is an expert, in your opinion, to the goals you are working on achieving. Choose someone who will encourage you to stretch.
- Mind Map– Mind mapping is a visual way to capture both sides of the brain. Tony Buzan is an expert in this field and offers a quick way to learn and capitalize on the art of mind mapping on his website.
- Keep an open mind– To keep an open mind, ask questions and check your personal biases. Sometimes we believe something to be true just because we have always believed it. We need to stop and reflect and work to see the opposite side of the argument. Too often we skip that part and only focus on the parts we disagree with. In keeping an open mind, it is possible to say “yes, and . . .” versus “no, but . . .”.
To find our true brilliance and to lead a team to great results, carve out time to think. The reason I love travel think time is because I usually can’t change it and for the most part, it is uninterrupted. What are your thinking rituals? Any of the tips listed can improve your critical and creative thinking results.