Thinking is working

You have permission to think

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. —Albert Einstein

We need to change how we view thinking and how it relates to work. The act of thinking plays a key role in knowledge work yet we dedicate so little time to it, guilt-tripping ourselves if we're not actively doing something. We think that in order to be working, we have to be changing something—an input with an immediate output.

What do I mean by input?

• Coding a program

• Editing your novel

• Entering data into a spreadsheet

• Taking a sales call with a customer

• Practicing your fundraising pitch deck

• Designing a new logo for your company

Thinking and doing

Whether or not we did this to ourselves, we've somehow been duped into thinking that real work only consists of performing input/output actions. Like an assembly line. Some of us go from exercising to meetings to driving to dinner to hanging out with the family to HBO without giving ourselves a minute to think. You know, thinking about scalability for the software infrastructure, or the go-to-market strategy for Q1 2023, or that you're taking money from the wrong investors, or the customer complaints, or a unifying vision.

Perhaps we look down on thinking because there’s no immediate result (output) from the thinking activity. After all, thinking looks like you're just sitting there... and, oh no, here comes the boss, better show that you're doing something of value, show that I'm jittering about and smacking away at the keyboard...

There's really just thinking and doing. Let's not downplay the importance of doing because that’s another blog post, but after enough doing-without-thinking, you're just a robot going through the motions and you don't actually solve your problems (the definition of insanity).

Sitting down with only your thoughts is powerful because ideas become clear, as though you've put on a pair of glasses for the first time after being blinded for your whole life. Thinking deeply takes you out of reaction mode and thrusts you into analysis and reflection.

Knowledge work

The irony is that many of you reading this are knowledge workers, and knowledge work is predicated on thought. Thinking is a requirement for high quality work, creative work, good output, and good strategy.

With rigorous thinking, you face a myriad of problems that you might not have had the time (or bravery) to confront. But in doing so the lines between these seemingly disparate ideas start to crystallize, thus forming new ideas and solutions and rabbit holes. Companies, it gives you an edge up on your competition. Marketers, it allows you to hit an untapped niche. Software engineers, it allows you to write better code.

Generating creative solutions (and then obviously acting on them) is by and large the most leveraged activity that you can do because you get closer to the real work, the work that you should be doing. Working hard isn't actually good if you're working on the wrong thing.

The macro environment is rapidly changing too. The cost of computation is rapidly approach $0 and many jobs are being commoditized—meaning, that in order to stay competitive as professionals, we'll need to think more deeply about differentiation, new angles, creative products... because, good ideas are the new gold. Ideas are becoming more valuable than they ever have been before. And the way to generate better ideas is by (you guessed it) sitting down and thinking deeply about information and problem matrices, and then reflect.

Ways to think

How do smart people think? What does that actually look like? Thinking for you could look like sitting on the couch with a notepad or sitting on a bench looking at the cars go by or walking in nature without your cell phone.

In nature, your senses become less fatigued by beeps and horns and notifications. You get a clearer sense of what your mind is doing moment to moment. I prefer nature for deep thinking. For others, they like thinking in a city, using the hustle and bustle as a way to lubricate the mind. Whatever floats your boat.

A lot of brilliant engineers, entrepreneurs, and artists would do their best thinking out on a walk. Steve Jobs would schedule walking meetings because for some reason the brain is stimulated in a certain way that allows for a free-flow of thought. Some of my best thinking is when I go for long, long walks (I think it has to do with being unencumbered by distractions and obligations).

Or perhaps your best thinking is with others. The "writer's room" is literally that—a room where writers get together to bounce ideas off of one another to come up with fresh ideas for their projects. I'm excited whenever I do a whiteboard session because others throw out wildly fun and absurd ideas that sparks new thoughts. Plus it’s just a ton of fun.

Writing is thinking. Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, said that when he writes, it's just him and a pen and a notebook in a bar. That's where the magic happens. It's thinking, drawing arrows, images, bullets, with little to no structure... just like the structure of thought, which is often chaotic and seeming to arise out of the ether. What he does on a computer isn't writing—"that's just typing."

So all of this boils down to actually doing the thinking (see what I did there?). So how do you do that? Well, what I do and what I’ve seen others do is to literally schedule time for thinking on the calendar like you would anything else. It might sound odd but give it a shot—you might be shocked at the epiphanies you think of.

Go down the rabbit hole.

---

If you enjoyed this essay, please share it by forwarding it to a friend. Thanks!