My good friend Stewart posted a 90 seconds of Power post in which he explained the importance of setting aside some time to just sit and think. Here is a link to his page if you choose as well as a link to his business website. Stewart is a genuine soul and full of wisdom. He has a very successful business and is the consummate family man.
My take on sitting and thinking
Watching and taking in Stew’s video really made me think: we’re all obsessed with getting stuff done.
Our to-do lists never end, our phones won’t stop buzzing, and everyone’s telling us we need to hustle harder and be more productive. But you know what we’ve completely forgotten how to do? Just sit and think. I mean really think. Not those quick thoughts you squeeze in between meetings or while scrolling Instagram. I’m talking about the kind of thinking where you actually follow an idea all the way through. Where you turn it over in your head, look at it from different angles, and let it grow into something better than what you started with. And no, this isn’t procrastination or waisted time. This is actually doing the work before the work.
Because here’s what happens when we skip this part—we end up executing half-baked plans, solving problems we don’t fully understand, or chasing goals we haven’t really thought through. We get really good at doing things efficiently that maybe we shouldn’t be doing at all. The modern world is basically designed to make sure we never think deeply about anything. Social media is always there with another video, picture or thread. TV offers the easy escape. People and their requests fill every possible gap in our day. I’m not saying these things are evil, but they’ve taken over the space where our best ideas used to show up.
There’s something kind of magical about just sitting in darkness and quiet. When you’re not being bombarded with stuff, your mind starts wandering in useful ways. You start connecting dots between random ideas. Problems that felt impossible suddenly make sense. Creative ideas just manifest from somewhere you didn’t even know was there. Making this happen takes real intention though. You’ve got to carve out time— maybe just 15 or 30 minutes—where you sit without your phone, without music, without anything. Just you and whatever’s going on in your head. The only caveat being maybe a notepad. I find this useful because if I can’t get some of the things out of my head I will get hung up on them.
I’ll be honest, it feels weird at first. We’ve trained ourselves to be terrified of being bored, to fill every moment of silence. But stick with it. What you get on the other side is clarity. Plans that actually make sense. Ideas that excite you because they’ve had time to develop. A sense of direction that comes from you, not from whatever’s yelling the loudest in your feed. Look, building this into your routine isn’t easy when everything around you is designed to grab your attention. But I’m trying to make this a regular practice because I think it matters. The best ideas don’t come from constant motion— they come from giving yourself space to actually think. Your best ideas are waiting for you in the quiet. You just have to show up.
I hope this give you something to think about.
