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DZ Column: Taking Time from Work to Think

Don't equate working with thinking.

See my IAEM Disaster Zone Column for the month of January 2020 below. Much of what we call "work" is actually reacting. The Internet and email have made "thinking" even harder to achieve.

Disaster Zone Column: Taking Time from Work to Think

How much time do you set aside when working to just “think?” You may be “thinking” that you are always engaged mentally with your job in one aspect or another. But really, when are you just sitting there “thinking” and not doing. Don’t confuse time engaged in one task or another, like reading or answering email as thinking. One of the issues of today’s workplace, and even when we get home, is our being a slave to the immediate, which normally comes in the form of emails, texts and phone calls from people.

As an example, my former deputy would usually come into work on Saturday mornings to have the office to herself and to be able to have time to work without interruption. She used this time to actually accomplish something for the week.

It is rare that I can remember the details of anything that I read over the years. However, one magazine column I read on a regular basis 35 years ago left an impression on me. He wrote about how his boss stopped by his office once and shared the following, “Joe, I noticed that every time I walk by your office you are always working. When do you take time to think?”

This thinking he was referring to is not your daily “to do list” of meetings, appointments, and tasks or projects to be accomplished. I think in today’s world of hyper-activity, we seem to relegate “thinking” to annual sessions where we set aside time for strategic planning. These can sometimes be offsite meetings that are meant to get us away from the distractions and interruptions of the office environment.

I can see some organizations banning the cellphone and laptop from these strategic planning sessions so that people can completely focus their attention on “thinking and interacting” with others. Doing so helps put aside daily distractions to concentrate their thoughts for one day on “thinking.” Interestingly, if you figure that there are 2,080 work hours in a work-year that one day would mean you dedicated .0038 percent of your time to deep thinking. Probably not the best allocation of time to what should be a high priority for all of us in emergency management.

When and where are you when ideas and solutions come to you? I have to admit that the hot shower in the morning, when I’m not distracted with technology, has been an opportune time for me to “think” and problem solve. Years ago when I was a runner, the time running also gave me time to think. Now today I’m a walker and my AirPods now fill my ears and brain with podcasts. This is not a bad thing, but again I’m engaged in an activity that is not really “deep thinking” about a particular subject.

In our current society, meditation and mindfulness are seen as great stress relievers that have you concentrating on your breathing. Thinking about work and the future is not the goal of these exercises. Not being a participant, I can’t be critical of the activity. In our sensory-overloaded age it could be exactly what we all need — in order to free our mind to “think” in the future.

As I get older, I have a higher value for getting an adequate amount of sleep every night. That in itself might be an elixir for thinking. The “old Eric” thought that less sleep gave me more time to work. This was likely confusing time spent in an effort with productivity, which might not have been the case.

Thinking and productivity are not the same thing. Feet up on the desk “thinking” looks somewhat lazy today. The nonverbal signals you send might be the same as someone sitting there reading a newspaper or doing online shopping. Aren’t you supposed to be working?

I don’t have easy answers for how you transition your “production oriented existence” (that I feel trapped in sometimes) to one that provides a more balanced approach to work that allocates time for thinking. We are all unique individuals so what works for one, might not work for others. Then there are practical issues to confront like the inability to install a shower in my office to promote my ability to think deeply about a subject.

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by Eric E. Holdeman, Senior Fellow, Emergency Management magazine

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.