Carving out Time to Reflect and Think

How do you carve out time to focus on the really important things?

Too many managers or leaders think, “If I’m busy, I must be effective,” but if you think about it, clearing emails and going to lots of rushed meetings is not necessarily an indication you’re doing the right stuff. Some things require focus. That might be thinking through the latest materials for the sales deck, concentrating on raising funds for a start-up, thinking through hiring a CTO or head of engineering, any important role. “What exactly do I need? How am I going to test for it?” That stuff requires almost turning off your emails, turning off the phone, locking the door, soundproofing it, and saying, “Right, I need to concentrate.”

Some of it comes down to calendar management, blocking time to think or focus. It’s hard because, especially as a leader, you’re often pulled in a lot of directions, but saying, “I’m going to block time to focus on the sales deck. I’m going to block time to write a job description.” I’m a massive user of calendars. I don’t muddle through my days at all. My days have blocks of meetings, calls, whatever, but then they have blocks for, “Get version one of that deck written. Research that subject. Write that article.” Or whatever it might be. Most of the week’s blocked.

There’s some flexibility. If it’s stuff that’s only your own time, you can fill it, but ultimately, you know there’s stuff that needs your focus and needs to get done, and you’ve got somehow get it done. For me, block time in the calendar is a really good one.

A certain time of day or week?

It varies. What I’ve found is if I want to concentrate, I find it hard to concentrate on something really important when I have a half-hour gap. The reality is, you finish a meeting, you have a half-hour gap, then another meeting, and there’s always a text you just received that you need to respond to, an urgent email, and someone that wants to grab you, you want to pop to the loo and grab a coffee, and that’s your half hour gone.

I like minimum one-hour, maybe two-hour blocks to do something really serious. It can be any time, but I like to spread it out, rather than have half a day at my desk concentrating and half a day going crazy with meetings and calls. I get a bit antsy if I’m sitting still for half a day without moving, whereas two hours is a really good block. You can deal with a few urgent things for five or ten minutes, then turn off your phone, concentrate, get some momentum. Then maybe pause, grab a coffee, then reflect or reread what you’ve just done and say, “Is that good enough?”

All those things that require focus, which often have a written output from it, to take time to reflect. If I’m sending an email about reorganising a company that’s important to get right, that should not be written and sent. It should be written, pause, take time to reflect, reread it and send. Or maybe, if it’s important enough, ask for someone else’s opinion. So, block time. If it’s important and not too urgent, pause, get feedback or reflect, reread, and send.