NOTE: I wrote this entry before the COVID-19 scare. I think now more than ever we need to tame and train our minds. Please stay safe and remember, this too shall pass. Enjoy the read.

Undoubtedly one of the most recognizable sculptures in the world is “The Thinker.” Like the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper or Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, one needn’t be an art aficionado to recognize the work immediately. I remember first seeing it as a child. As strange as this seems I remember identifying it as an example of laziness. It appeared to me a man just sitting doing nothing of any utility value. He was just sitting there naked and bored as I saw it. 

As I have gotten older I have come to realize sculptor Auguste Rodin might have captured his subject during the most productive and vital part of his day. He captured the time the man devoted to just thinking. Some call this pondering. This is not to be confused with meditating. I suppose it could be considered a sort of meditation, but that’s not what I’m referring to here. I’m referring to sitting and exploring thoughts and ideas.

Every great product, action, novel, song, romance or anything else of any significance started with an idea. Ideas are the seeds for great things. Therefore, I believe it is incumbent upon us to make time for these ideas to flourish. However, like sitting and reading a book, another highly productive use of time, thinking gets a bad rap. Imagine if someone walked by your office and saw you sitting and just staring out the window deep in thought. They would think you were bored, depressed or at a minimum wasting time. 

However, with the back of your laptop facing them, if they walk up and see you staring intently at your screen they wouldn’t think anything of it. Never mind you're simply scrolling through Facebook for the one hundredth time that day. We don’t give enough merit to sitting and making space to think. I find this one of the most rewarding parts of my day. While I have other ad hoc times I just sit and think I also have a designated time. It’s early in the morning when I make my brain sweat.

I learned this exercise from James Altucher. In his amazing book that everyone who ever wanted to escape the matrix and become an entrepreneur should read, “Choose Yourself,” he describes the following thinking exercise:

Describing our mind he writes, “...You need to tame the wild horse or it will tame you until you are a slave. Nobody wants that. The way you tame it is through focused use. Set a goal; I’m going to come up with ten ways I can have more time for myself. Or I’m going to come up with ten ways I can make my job better. Or ten business ideas. Make sure the list you plan to do is a hard one. You need to make the mind sweat so that it gets tired. So tired that it’s done for the day. It can't control you today. Tire it out. Then do it again. Ten more ideas.”

This has become one of the most beneficial exercises of my morning routine. It’s not enough to just sit and let your lizard brain run wild. There needs to be a deliberate discipline to your thinking. Lest we forget, “As a man thinketh in his heart,”wrote James Allen, “He is.” Therefore, take time to think about those things you wish to become. Think on lovely things. Purposely create a vision of the life you want. Envision the type of professional you want to be. How do you want to be perceived by your wife, your children, peers, your clients, your community? How will you better manage your time? How can you become more creative? How can you increase your presence in the market? Think, think, think til it hurts. 

As the mythical advertising executive Don Draper once said, “Think of an idea very hard. Then forget about it.”

The key is to sit and think. Give yourself permission. This is not being lazy. This is figuring out how to be more productive. 

Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations is a physical example of his commitment to thinking. He didn’t write Meditations with the intent of anyone reading it. It is but a repository of his thinking. It’s a glimpse of his mind and how he was trying to figure out how to best master this game we know as life. Thinking is of great value. Come on. Think about it.

You rule!

Jason

Jason Wright is the President and CEO of Texas Titans Media. He is the host of the Texas Titans Podcast. He is also the author of Push Play": Taking Your Life Off Pause. To learn more about Jason please visit www.jasonwrightnow.com.