Why do we sometimes say we have our best ideas in the shower? Maybe for some of us solutions or insight come when we are walking, or driving or the classic case of having an idea when we’re supposed to be on vacation.

Most often this happens simply because being busy is normalized in our offices, and we constantly sacrifice the time to think for “just getting shit done.”

But if we sacrifice thinking – letting our brains calculate and make connections – we sacrifice insight, creativity, and our best solutions. Our work suffers.

Why should we take time to think?

Both you and your team deserve the best version of you. You owe it to yourself to have access to your best decisions and ideas, and because you determine your employees’ time and effort, they certainly deserve the same.

But wait, there’s more: leaders have a massive influence over the culture of their business, beyond pay and determining job descriptions. Employees often emulate or even copy leaders, since what a leader does exemplifies what will succeed that business.

So if you don’t give yourself time to think, neither will your employees, and the business will suffer because the team prioritizes staying busy instead of bringing their best selves to work – just like their leader.

Build your schedule so time to think is part of what you do, every day, and be clear with your employees that they should do the same. Having time to think can be similar to Carl Jung’s daily walks (during “work time” no less) or Cal Newport’s Deep Work (an excellent book in many different regards). Improve your ability to make good decisions by making time to think a part of every work day.