The Underestimated Art of Thinking

Hymn for the daydreamers

It’s been nearly two weeks into the new year, and as I reviewed my progress this morning, I almost convinced myself I’ve been unproductive. Maybe it’s a common illusion—our to-do lists seem to grow endlessly, like we’re sinking in quicksand, clinging to productivity as our only lifeline. There’s always one thing after another and never enough time to catch our breaths.

Thankfully, I went for a walk today to think. As I made my usual loop around the cemetery, accompanied by the solitude of my own thoughts, it hit me: I haven’t been unproductive at all. In fact, these past two weeks have been some of the most thought-provoking I’ve had in a long time. I’ve been daydreaming again.

I’m not sure at which point in time we started measuring our productivity with tangible measures, as the intangible ones are often the most strongest of all. Thinking is often an overlooked form of immeasurable productivity.

Sure, I may have not answered all my unread emails, worked on a keynote presentation as I had planned to, or worked on my website. But that doesn’t mean I was entirely unproductive. On the contrary, I had a large quantity of high quality breakthrough thoughts and philosophical conversations with myself and other people— making the past two weeks actually very productive from a thinking standpoint.

All the world’s problems stem from an inability to sit by ourselves and think, or so the saying goes.

Sometimes these thinking times happen on a walk, in the shower, lying on a yoga mat on the kitchen floor, or staring at the ceiling fan while stretched out on a couch.

We don’t label these thinking sessions as productive because they fly under the radar to those around us and even to ourselves. Just because we aren’t clicking away at the keyboard or glued to a monitor doesn’t mean we aren’t being productive.

The definition of productivity means being able to produce large quantities of goods. Therefore, keeping the mind engaged by wrestling with interesting thoughts is most definitely productivity. It’s just a type that’s not easy to see or measure.

No one can tell if we are pondering the meaning of life while staring at the ceiling from the couch lost in thought. No one knows if we’re philosophizing about the dichotomy of infiniteness and finiteness of mortality while on a neighborhood walk. No one knows about the internal dialogue we’re having about the definition of love while lying on the kitchen floor. No one can tell we’re giving life to a new business idea while looking at the clouds pass by. Yet those are all things I did this week. Maybe I’d just get called a glossy-eyed daydreamer.

Creating grace and space for ourselves to be and just think is perhaps one of the biggest things we take least advantage of. Not only does thinking time help us in traditional productivity like work stuff, but it helps us formulate our personal values, problem-solve our challenges, and come up with thoughts that are our own.

Lastly, oftentimes when we are forcing ourselves to produce most and and to “be productive,” is when our brains shut down and do the opposite. It’s why we see a surge of ideas while in the shower or on a run. When our mind is free from confinements and is allowed to think, is when most interesting thoughts and ideas arrive.

My friend and business partner Mary captures this perfectly when she says, “The idea just walked across my brain and took a seat.”

We live on opposite sides of the country, but at least once a week, one of us calls the other with that familiar phrase. It’s our way of saying an idea came to us—likely while we were staring at the sky, walking through the cemetery (bagpipes included… inside joke), making coffee, petting a cat, or some other seemingly random thinking-time daydreaming activity.

Those moments have sparked fresh business ideas, solved client challenges, shaped keynote presentations, and delivered countless eureka moments. It’s like they just parachute into the brain.

As the year unfolds, I hope we can all be gentler with ourselves. Sometimes, the most “productive” thing we can do is step outside, and look at the clouds. We never know what thought will walk across our brain and take a seat.