“We don’t think around here…”

A couple of days ago, the dashboard light on my car came on, indicating that the air pressure in my tires was low. I took it into the service station and the gentlemen who assists customers asked me what the problem was and asked how much air the tires held. 

He checked all the tires and filled them to their appropriate levels. 

In the last four months, we’ve had to deal with two nails in our tires and a slashed tire, so I proactively asked him, “do you think there’s a nail in the tire?”

He looked at me and said, “We don’t think around here. We’re too busy to think. All we have is what we know. We know that your air pressure was low. And now it is back to full. If in a couple of days it’s low again, then we’ll know there might be a leak.” 

I appreciated that he was data-driven and wanted to use the evidence that was available. And I also think he could have spent two more minutes uncovering more evidence if he had sprayed the tire with soapy water to see if it bubbled to test if air was indeed leaking before I drove off.

______________________________________________

My interaction at the service station reminds me of how we move through life and approach our work. Sometimes we don’t think. We are busy and we’re working fast to check off the next thing from our to-do list or put out the fire at work or meet a deadline. 

Somehow thinking has become a nice-to-have rather than something we do before we even begin. 

I wonder, what is the cost of not thinking? How do we know we’re focused on the right things to have an impact? What if we’re doing work that should be delegated to someone else? When we just do what is in front of us, are we missing the bigger picture? 

What if you took 10 minutes each week to think about where you’ve been and where you’re going? To set the strategy for the week and keep your focus on the right things? How would your life and business transform if you intentionally thought about these areas:

Your long-term vision. 

Do you have a vision of what you want to create? Of who you want to be? “If you don’t know where you’re going, all roads will get you there.” What did you accomplish in the last week that propels you toward your vision?

Your purpose. 

Why are you working? When you can anchor into your purpose, even tasks that don’t energize you take on new meaning because they are in service of something much bigger.

What matters to you most at this stage of life. 

What are your values? Are you making decisions about how you spend your time and money in line with your values? Looking back in the last week, what are you proud of? What is your filter for saying no? What criteria do you use to evaluate if you say yes to something/someone?

Your strategy for approaching your work.

How do you prioritize your workload? What is the 20 percent of your work that yields 80 percent of your results? How can you spend more time doing things that energize and strengthen you?

__________________________________________

Take the time to slow down. To think. To get clear on what matters, where you’re going, what your “why” is, and how your approach work. Then go.

Slow down to speed up.