💌 Time Well Spent: How to Create a "Thinking Time" Ritual
📙 Excerpted from Keith Cunningham's book, The Road Less Stupid
Hi Friends,
One of my favorite tough-love business books is The Road Less Stupid by real estate investor Keith Cunningham. At the end of every chapter, he includes dozens of powerful prompts for creating what he calls a daily “Thinking Time” ritual to get greater distance on challenges. Cunningham writes:
“Over the last twenty-five years or so, I have practiced ‘Thinking Time,’ which is a thirty- to forty-five-minute session of uninterrupted concentration. I start by preparing a high-value question before the actual session begins. The better the question, the more insightful and robust the answers and possibilities created.”
💭 Here are the steps:
Find the Unasked Question: Create a question that will result in clarity and generate better choices.
Separate the Problem from the Symptom: Identify the real obstacle that is blocking progress.
Check Assumptions: Differentiate the facts from the story you are spinning.
Consider Second-Order Consequences: Clarify the risks and the possibility/cost of being wrong.
Create the Machine: Create the executable plan and identify the resources (people and money) required to solve the real (core) problem and make forward progress.
Now onto this week’s round-up + Plus extra goodies over the paywall rainbow at the end . . .
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💬 Quote
“The single best business decision you will ever make is to intentionally work with a peer group on a regular basis to question assumptions, ask hard questions (the kind you hope nobody will ask), alert you to icebergs, raise the bar, and push and hold you accountable.
While an Artist is ‘creating’ it, an Operator is ‘doing’ it; an Owner is ‘leading, structuring, and leveraging’ it; and the Board is protecting the business and keeping it alive.”
—Keith Cunningham, The Road Less Stupid
💭 Sample Thinking Time Questions
As I am thinking about the next 100 days and what I will do differently, what are the things I must do less of to make room for the things I need to do more of?
If my team represents my leverage, what do I need to do or say to ensure their success?
Starting and perfection are rarely simultaneous. What are the three things I could begin doing that would get me 80% of the way there?
📝 Permission
Set a recurring time aside each week when you are at your creative and strategic best for your Thinking Time ritual.
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Here’s to setting even more time free! 🥂
❤️ With Gratitude,
P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰
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