5 Strategies for Scheduling Time to Think (From Billion Dollar CEOs)

Once your business starts working…you quickly find yourself in a whirlwind of daily operations, crisis management, and endless to-do lists.

However, wildly successful business leaders understand a crucial secret: the importance of stepping back and dedicating time to think deeply about their business.

Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft takes an annual “Think Week” where he holes himself up in a cabin alone and just…thinks.

“It’s hard to pull yourself out of the day-to-day and get some perspective. It’s important to take time out of the office to think about the overall business.”

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and dubbed The Oracle of Omaha loves his quiet time:

“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.

I read and think.

So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business.”

Sara Blakely, Founder of billion-dollar company Spanx, created a fake commute that gave her time to reflect quietly on her business.

“I’ve identified where and when I get my best ideas. For me, it’s in the car.

I live really close to Spanx, so I’ve created what I call my ‘fake commute,’ and I get up an hour early before I’m supposed to go to Spanx and I drive around aimlessly in Atlanta with my commute so that I can have my thoughts come to me.”

Jeff Weiner, Former CEO of LinkedIn, schedules blocks of time for thinking and calls it “the single most important productivity tool” he uses.

“If you don’t take the time to think proactively, you will increasingly find yourself reacting to your environment rather than influencing it.”

Sam Corcos, Founder of continuous glucose monitor company Levels has a quarterly date with his thoughts:

“I block off 1 week every quarter to think and write. It’s essential for keeping the big picture in focus.”

The Benefits of Scheduled Thinking Time

1. Strategic Planning: Regular reflection allows you to step back and see the bigger picture, helping you to plan for the future more effectively.
2. Problem Solving: Quiet contemplation can lead to innovative solutions to complex business challenges.
3. Personal Growth: Taking time to think can help you identify areas for personal and professional development.
4. Improved Decision-Making: By dedicating time to consider decisions carefully, you’re more likely to make choices aligned with your long-term goals.
5. Stress Reduction: Regular periods of reflection can help reduce stress and prevent burnout.

How to Implement Thinking Time

1. Schedule It: Block out time in your calendar specifically for thinking and reflection.
2. Create the Right Environment: Find a quiet, comfortable space where you won’t be interrupted.
3. Unplug: Disconnect from technology to minimize distractions.
4. Use Tools: Keep a journal or notebook to jot down ideas and insights.
5. Be Consistent: Make thinking time a regular habit, whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly.

Want to elevate your thinking while outsourcing the work of figuring out what and how to think about things?

We dig deep into psychology research, mental models, and the perspectives of successful entrepreneurs to find proven ways of thinking better.

Then, we create copy-and-paste prompts that you can use with Claude.ai to turn AI into your business thought partner.

We turned this into a 3-Day Think Retreat. It’s free. All you need is 15–30 minutes a day to go through the thought exercises so you can:

• Feel confident about how you make your big decisions by using both intuition and logic
• Use First Principles Thinking to turn your biggest, scariest goals into their tiniest components
• Make sure your business stays aligned with your values and ideal lifestyle

Start your 3-Day Think Retreat here.