Life is better when we balance doing with thinking

Earlier in my career I worked in a large recruitment company. I was a fee earning recruitment consultant and success was measured by revenue generation. Whilst there were behavioural elements that sat around this, in general terms, the higher up the league table you were, the most successful. High billings = success.

In order to achieve high billings, there was a tried and tested formula that worked. Leaders could manage certain inputs and they were a pretty good indicator of outputs:

• Consultants with more candidates at interview, were most likely to make placements...
• Working back from that, consultants who sent most CVs were most likely to get interviews...
• Right back to (and this was the early 00s) the consultants who spent more time on the phone, would bill more money.

The culture was one of pace and action. I recall one particular Director in the office regularly shouting "hit the phones" which had more than a whiff of the 'Wolf of Wall Street' movie.

I measured my own outputs daily by having a tally of the number of CVs I had sent that day, the number of interviews I had conducted, clients I had visited, and the number of catch up calls I'd had with candidates on my note book. Success was all about activity levels.

For a lot of years, I worked hard (and played hard), I led my life quickly, and was encouraged to do more, more more. I did well. It was fun. For a time.

What was missing during this period for me was thinking time. Reflection time. Learning time. Yes, I was supported with development linked to getting better at my job, or moving into management, but I imagine now what my old Manager would've said if I had sat in the office quietly for a while thinking, reflecting and not hitting the phone. I am not sure it would've been well received.

Here we are in 2024. At the end of the month it will be 8 years since I founded my business and moved into coaching and career development work, and one of the most helpful changes I have made has been to plan blank space in my calendar to think and reflect, instead of do.

This quote from Nancy Kline really resonated recently;

It is not easy to protect time for thinking and reflecting when we are in a busy, pressurised role. There are always lots of urgent priorities. But I would say I have grown as a person by making this change and I have seen others benefit from it too. Even leaders in big, busy jobs. Especially them! To perform better and to focus our activities on the right things - taking time to think, research and plan is key.

In a world where 97% of leaders say that strategic thinking is vital for the success of their organisation, yet 96% say they don't have time for strategic thinking* perhaps more of us should find a way to pause, think and reflect - to make us even better in our work.

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My earlier newsletter about writing a weekly reflection may also be of interest: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-committing-writing-weekly-reflection-has-changed-my-rich-poole/

*From 'The Long Game' by Dorie Clark