Not enough time for strategic thinking? Consider This!

According to Dorie Clark, 97% of senior leaders say being strategic is the most important thing for their organization’s success, yet 96% of them say they don’t have the time for strategic thinking. This clearly shows that you are not alone. We all struggle!

Too often you may be bogged down in zillions of little tasks, pushing hard, but at the end of the day not making a lot of headway. Does this sound familiar? If so, how can you find more time to focus while you are crazy busy?

Understand how you operate

Another statistic: Tasha Eurich (“Insight”, 2017) has discovered that although 95% of people think they are self-aware, only 10 to 15% actually are. But knowing who you are, how you operate, and what triggers you is the most important step in finding time for strategic thinking. It has much more to do with Being than with Doing.

For example, if your standard answer to “How are you?” is “Busy!” and this becomes an excuse to invest time in strategic thinking, you have a problem. Begin by becoming more aware of when busyness starts to creep in and keeps you from real progress. Is being busy giving you a feeling of being important as there is demand? Or do you choose busyness to avoid working on a more complex, maybe frightening activity that needs some focus time and deep strategic thinking?

Answers to these questions might help you understand why strategic thinking comes last on your priority list.

If you’re reading this article, you probably already know that email messes with your productivity and focus. Each time you reply to an email you may feel a sense of accomplishment and your brain releases reward hormones like dopamine. But before you know it, you’re spending the rest of your day in reactive mode dealing with everyone else’s requests. According to Jocelyn Glei (Unsubscribe, 2016), to overcome the impulse to check your inbox you need to have a clear idea what you would rather be doing and invent “progress hacks” (i.e. daily metrics of your strategic output) to make your meaningful work as addictive as email.

In essence, slow down to speed up and invest in your self-awareness to understand how you operate, what triggers you, and who you would like to become. There are many great books out there. One of my all-time favorites in this area is Triggers (2015) from Marshall Goldsmith.

Create Space

It is important to understand that strategic thinking doesn’t necessarily require large amounts of time. It is not time that you need, it is space.

Change the scenery and do some walking or exercise or meditation to get into a different brain mode, which will allow your mind to wander and to create a different vibe, so that new thoughts can arise. You may initially feel uncomfortable with stillness or downtime, but don't cancel it out to become busy again.

Read a book to get inspired and draw new connections between your own questions and concepts from unrelated fields to get to your next bold idea.

Ask yourself hypothetical questions like “If I knew the answer, what would it be?”, or “If I had no constraints, what would I do?”. This creates space and widens your thinking.

And remove distractions (e.g. put your phone in flight mode and don't even think of about checking your emails on your laptop)! According to Adam Grant, emails, texts, and social media are eating 10% of your free time and fragmenting your space into tiny pieces that are less productive.

Manage your energy

Understand when during your day your energy is high. Daniel Pink describes in his most recent book “When” (2018) that perfect timing is everything in order to be productive. Think carefully about how you divide up your day, how you organize your routines, when to take your first coffee, or when to take the perfect nap.

Find ways to refresh your energy and take intentional, replenishing breaks. You make better use of your energy, if you carve out some time to recharge and reflect during the day, rather than pushing yourself from task to task or from meeting to meeting without any breathing space in between.

The below image shows a couple of tools that work very well for me, as I can easily embed them in my daily life, they are fun, and I experience instant change of my emotional and energy status. If you are interested in more details, please read my LinkedIn article “Need instant refreshment? 7 tips that will work for you too!”

Manage your time - Remember, you are your calendar

Tom Peters (“The Excellence Dividend”, 2018) tells it like it is: “The calendar never lies”. You can claim something is your priority, but if your calendar doesn't reflect it, you're lying to yourself. Hold a formal weekly or monthly calendar review with yourself and analyze the trends.

Plan your day, don’t let it just happen and protect your free time. Prioritize the most important goals of the day. Block your calendar for strategic thinking and honor this appointment with yourself as much as you would a meeting with your manager, client, or coworker.

Ask for support

Finally, make a commitment to yourself, talk about what you are doing, start small, and find someone to help you with achieving your goals. Whether it be a friend, coworker or family member, ask someone else to support you on your journey; someone who will keep you motivated and accountable.

Try these tips and let me know, if they worked for you and what else should be considered to find enough time for strategic thinking. And remember, “The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.” (Stephen Covey).

Need more productivity or mindfulness tips? Check out my other articles on LinkedIn.

Volker Hack is an Executive Director at one of the largest Contract Research Organizations and dedicated to Improve Health. He is an advocate for incorporating mindfulness into the work life.