A Counter-Cultural Concept that All Leaders Should Practice

It was almost exactly seven years ago that my mentor challenged me to sit in silent contemplation for five minutes every day.

Every day, I’d set the timer on my phone, close my eyes, and pay attention to insights or ideas that would come to the surface of my conscious mind, such as:

Your anxiety is coming from…

Pay attention to…

The factors that matter most are…

The wise choice would be to…

The five-minute timer would chime, and I’d open my eyes feeling more peaceful, clear-minded, and connected.

It reminded me that we live in a world biased toward action and we rarely do enough contemplation.

Oxford defines contemplation as the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time, including deep reflective thought.

From the period of 1800 to 1900, the use of the word contemplation fell precipitously, perhaps correlated to the rise of the Industrial Economy and then the Service Economy. More people worked in factories and got paid for hours worked. Modes of transportation changed. More of daily life became measured by speed and progress. Productivity became valued over presence.

The Benefits of Contemplation

Wondering whether there’s any value to this quiet time alone?

Here are three positives that arise from deep reflective thought:

1. Diverse perspective. Most of your viewpoints are biased. Due to filters, assumptions, and limited understanding, it’s difficult to fully “see” what’s happening. While it’s true that gathering more information and listening to others can broaden your view, often it’s helpful to simply contemplate a problem or situation.
2. Non-reactivity. Anxiety, agitation, and impulsiveness drive knee-jerk and emotional responses. To remain calm and thoughtful and avoid being triggered, contemplate your feelings and values.
3. Clearer choices. Many of the decisions we face are not clear cut. They are nuanced and ambiguous and carry competing trade-offs. By slowing down to think longer and more deeply, you’re able to consider the factors more thoughtfully. Also, you can better tune in to your intuition and promptings.

Overall, contemplation develops wisdom.

Consider this practice during the holidays and/or for a New Year’s resolution: Spend at least five minutes per day to listen and look more deeply at your life.

You’d think five minutes per day would be easy, but for most people it’s not. Waking hours are filled with distractions, deadlines, and demands. To make it work, you’ll need to stack the habit with other key habits during a more predictable time of day—early morning, lunch, before bed perhaps.

Contemplation requires a posture of calm observation.

According to an old nursery rhyme:

A wise old owl

Lived in an oak;

The more he saw

the less he spoke.

The less he spoke,

the more he heard.

Why can’t we all be like that bird?

How might you incorporate contemplation into your daily action?

Improve how you influence people. Order my new book Lead with Influence to become a better communicator and gain buy-in from others. Don’t “tell” people what they should think or do. Improve your ability to “sell” them on the value of doing it.

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About the Author. Matt Norman coaches and advises executives on how to build great people and culture. He is president and CEO of Norman & Associates, which offers custom coaching and consulting in the areas of talent strategy, personal effectiveness, planning, and goal alignment to help people improve how they communicate, lead, influence, and work together. He’s also the award-winning author of Four Patterns of Healthy People.

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