Thinking Time: the Counterintuitive Approach to Growth (TPS162)

Want to know what makes the top CEOs so successful? It’s the time they take to think critically about their business. In this episode we’re going to talk about how you can actually go faster by slowing down and developing a habit of thinking time. We walk you through the critical questions you need to ask yourself in order to go to the next level and share how we implement this here at Asian Efficiency. We teach you the right mindset and mental frameworks to work through the problems that you are facing both personally and professionally, and in this episode we explain how to implement these frameworks effectively.

Cheat Sheet

• What thinking time is, and how Thanh presented it to his team [1:58]
• Why most problems you think you have are actually symptoms, not problems [4:58]
• The difference between reflecting and thinking [6:17]
• What Thanh discovered from studying other people who were successful at what they do [11:47]
• How Keith Cunningham came up with the concept of thinking time [17:53]
• What gains you will realize from implementing thinking time consistently [21:03]
• Should you spend time on thinking time first thing in the morning? [25:42]
• How thinking time can determine the value of an idea [29:52]
• 4 Ways to use thinking time to solve the problem you are thinking about [33:48]
• How to unlock the one big obstacle that is standing in the way of achieving your goal [37:38]
• How overwhelm and procrastination are often symptoms and not problems by themselves [44:00]
• The process that helps you figure out what the root problem really is [52:23]
• What to do after you figure out the real problem [59:57]
• Why the question that you ask is so important [1:05:42]
• How to start implementing thinking time in your life right now [1:07:54]

How to Identify a Real Problem

1. Why isn’t this problem already solved?
2. Why am I not where I want to be?
3. How did this get to be a problem to begin with?
4. What have been the impediments or constraints that have hindered me from solving this problem? (skills, desire, resources, time, discipline, environment)
5. If I could only ______ really, really, well, I would have it all figured out
6. What could I do to make this problem even worse?
7. What can be done today to improve this situation?
8. If I only had ____, I could solve this problem.

Links

• Thinking Time Questions [Download]
• How to Take Massive Action on Your Goals by Implementing the 12 Week Year Effectively (TPS138)
• Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t
• Keith Cunningham
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
• Why Time Management Doesn’t Work & Why You Should Focus on Energy Instead (TPS142)
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

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