Don't Forget to Think

Hey y’all — here’s a scary thought:

How long is your to-do list?

Even if you don’t have an actual “list” you probably have more priorities competing for your time and mental bandwidth than you can get through.

I don’t think I’ve had 0 items on my priority list since I started working at Uber in 2016.

For a lot of founders, myself included much of the time, getting things done off the list isn’t a challenge. The challenge is sitting still while there are things on the list to be done.

But there’s hidden value in sitting still sometimes.

I’m not saying you have to go to a multi-day silent retreat, but doing things that let your mind wander aimlessly or deeply contemplate a specific problem with no distractions can actually lead to a breakthrough.

In both cases, you’ll get more value than you might expect.

So this week I’m sharing this reminder to stop and just think, along with my list of 9 extremely-obvious-but-easy-to-forget things to do so that you have enough dedicated thinking time.

9 Extremely Obvious Times to Think

Read a (Non-Business) Book

There are plenty of great books for founders (here are 10 of my favorites) but you’re naturally going to be thinking about how to apply them to your own work while you’re reading them.

Mix some non-business books into your reading list, and actually prioritize time for them.

Whether it’s fictional masterpieces like The Unbearable Lightness of Being or illuminating, contrarian histories like The Decline of the West the right book will take your mind to another place and leave you fresher to take on the world.

Take Up a (Rigorous) Hobby

Maybe you don’t want to turn your thoughts off, you just want to channel them into something entirely different.

That’s fine too — find a creative or athletic hobby that requires your full attention and leave you fulfilled, like you’re making progress against something other than just your business.

For me, that’s occasionally recording DJ mixes (like this one) and playing tennis.

Take a Walk

This one is so obvious that it’s almost a cliche, but walks are somehow still underrated.

Sahil Bloom even says taking walks are the single greatest habit you can build.

Maybe you’re in a city and the bustling city noise helps you feel connected to the rest of the world, or maybe you’re in a rural area and nature does that same thing for you.

In particular, I recommend the morning or right after dinner — those are primetime to let your mind wander and be unencumbered while you’re walking.

Delegate More than You Think You Can

Unless you’ve built a big team or business before, it’s easy to feel like you should have your hands in everything at your startup.

I’ve even talked many times about the value of being “in the details” like Brian Chesky says to be.

Brian’s right, of course, but you can be in the details and still let your team have ownership over them.

Reserving at least some of your mental bandwidth for steering the ship rather than mopping the deck will serve the whole crew better when there’s an iceberg in your way.

The biggest step change that’s easy to start with is hiring an assistant, but there are also smaller changes you can make with your existing team to help with this.

Connect With Yourself Spiritually

Nothing is more repressed in modern, western society today than our shared, and individual, connection with spirituality.

Everywhere we go we see advertisements, products, and problems to solve focused on the material world. It’s easy to let that convince us that the material world and the decisions we make related to our standing in it are all that matter.

Arguably since nuclear bombs were dropped to end WW2, our modern society has deemed itself all-powerful.

But every single society that came before that emphasized the importance of spirituality, whether that was devotion to a specific God or something else.

That’s a bit odd. Did anything fundamental really change?

I’d encourage anyone who feels caught up and disconnected from their own spirituality to carve out time to explore it.

For me that’s been reconnecting with my Christian roots, for you it might be meditation or something else entirely.

Take Long Drives

When I lived in Miami during college I would occasionally take long drives around the city in the evenings.

Sometimes I’d take friends or a girlfriend along, but these were often solo excursions where I’d see new parts of the city while aimlessly exploring (and maybe getting out to get some food or stop by a beach).

It was a great way to clear the cobwebs, and if I had a car these days I’d probably still do it sometimes.

Go to the Movies

Movie theaters are underrated.

They’ve gotten a bit expensive (BYO snacks) like everything else, but they uniquely offer a shared environment where electronics are not permitted.

As a result, you really have nothing to do except eat your popcorn and digest the storyline of the film.

Since that’s not something that takes up too much mental energy, your mind can either wander or just turn off a bit. Either way you’ll be refreshed at the end.

Take your cue from Don Draper on this one — it works.

Reduce Your Decisions

Before he got his gold chain, Mark Zuckerberg was exceedingly lame. He famously wore the same wardrobe every day.

Call this a shtick if you like, but reducing mundane and inconsequential decisions in your life leaves you with more decision-making capacity for the important things.

Even if brains theoretically don’t have a “capacity” you know what I mean — more decisions = you get tired faster.

Write Down Your Thoughts

Clear writing is clear thinking.

Whenever I have a massive decision to make, like leaving a startup I founded or moving on from a romantic partner, I spend time writing down my thoughts in absolute detail.

I probably rewrite it 10 times, every time. It takes hours.

These don’t become scripts, but they do give me confidence in my line of thinking and reasoning for making the decision.

Even if you’re writing down more passive thoughts, a journal, or something else just getting it down on paper will force you to acknowledge and process it — and your gut will tell you if something’s off.

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