Our beliefs impact our decisions.

Our decisions impact our actions.

Our actions impact our results.

Our results impact our impact!

Most of us want to positively impact our spouses, kids, teammates, clients, and partners. If we don’t value the discipline of thinking, we are at risk of limiting the impact we can make in all areas of our lives.

Today, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of top performing professionals about how we must continually elevate our thinking. As I said in my post “You Don’t Have Time Not to Think,” too many business leaders have not placed a high enough value on thinking.

At Building Champions, we refer to time set aside for thinking as “On Time,” and we believe it to be a non-negotiable discipline.

Here are five factors we must consider if we want to elevate our thinking.

1. Input - We must be intentional with what we allow into our minds. This means people, reading, coaching, mentoring, and self talk. We continually elevate our thinking by seeking out input that elevates our perspective.

2. Value — We must place a high value on intentional thinking, to the extent that we are committed to no less than 4 hours of On Time per week.

3. Discipline — We prepare for this thinking time by keeping our project files in order. We schedule On Time, and follow through regardless of how we feel. We are just as committed to our On Time as we would be if we were meeting with our most valuable client.

4. Focus — We don’t show up for On Time with an overloaded agenda, emails to answer, or no idea of what we should be thinking about. We choose to focus our On Time by reflecting on the past, thinking through current situations and projects, or envisioning the future. The Core 4 are great tools to focus on during On Time.

5. Methods — There are several methods that can be used for elevated thinking. You can use Mind Mapping, the Six Thinking Hats, the Sticky Note Exercise, Keep-Start-Stop, the Visual Planning tool….. the list goes on. Learn one method at a time, and master it by continually using it to elevate thinking.

My challenge to you is to commit to a plan for elevating your thinking in the year ahead.

Those around you will be impacted powerfully by your commitment!