Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Give Yourself the Gift of More Time to Think

Give Yourself More Time to Think


If you didn’t get everything you wanted this Christmas—or even if you did—I want to suggest something you should give yourself as a new year’s gift: more time to think. No, I haven’t discovered how to squeeze more than 168 hours into a week, but it’s probably the next best thing.

If it is true that the quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first, then the key to a high-quality 2010 is for us to think better. Fortunately, Nancy Kline has already figured out how to do that and has shared those insights in her newly-released book, More Time to Think.
Among the many delicacies I savor in Nancy’s work are the dozens of paradoxes she has uncovered. One of those is that taking time to elicit everyone’s independent, fresh thinking up front actually saves time in the long run. Along the same lines as John Wooden’s piercing question, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” I have found Nancy’s assertion to be absolutely true:

In the Thinking Environment we think so well in the time we have that the time we have increases.
So before you rush off to begin making this year better than the last, let me offer you the best piece of advice I could give you: Go to www.amazon.co.uk and order More Time to Think. (Nancy’s book is published in England and is not yet sold in the United States, notwithstanding my incessant “inveigling” her—Nancy’s word, not mine—to make her materials more accessible to the American market.) You’ll find that the British version of Amazon is no harder to use than the U.S. based Amazon, it just takes a few days longer for the book to travel across “the pond.”

When More Time to Think arrives, read it thoughtfully cover to cover. Put its wisdom into practice. Apply its principles in your business, in your meetings, in your relationships, and in your life. Then get ready to have the best year ever!

Nancy’s work has had a long and lasting impact of me, so I was happy to provide her my testimonial, which she included on the back cover of the book:

When you change the way you think, you change everything. In my work and my life, the Thinking Environment has made all the difference.
Nancy’s new book makes the big picture and the minute details of the Thinking Environment accessible to all. Whether you are brand new to Time to Think or you have spent dozens and dozens of days studying with Nancy as I have, More Time to Think will challenge you, inspire you, and invite you to seek everyone’s independent, fresh thinking. It will, without exaggeration, change your work and your life.

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