Most leaders I coach are smart, experienced, and committed. And they often start with this problem: No time to think.

Maybe you know the drill: Your days are packed. Meeting after meeting after meeting. Countless e-mails and calls. Endless demands for your attention. 

Underneath all that activity, time to actually think gets crowded out. I mean the slower kind of thinking that integrates your judgment, values, and creativity. 

While you intuitively know “nonstop busy” reduces your effectiveness,  you may not know how to fix it. The good news is you can make time to think and become a superb leader.

Why Thinking Time Slips Away

Most leadership environments don’t push back when calendars fill up. In fact, they often reward it. Responsiveness gets noticed. Availability gets praised. Being “in demand” is seen as evidence that you’re doing something right.

There’s also a more personal layer. Many leaders learned early on that being busy was a form of protection. If you’re always moving, nobody questions your commitment. Slowing down can feel oddly vulnerable.

And yet, research confirms what many of us already know in our bodies: constant task-switching erodes focus, degrades decision quality, and leaves less room for creativity and judgment. On the other hand, reflection improves learning and performance. Pausing restores perspective.

Successful Leaders Who Prioritize Thinking Time

Bill Gates used to take what he called “Think Weeks,” stepping away from daily demands to read, reflect, and connect ideas. 

Warren Buffett has often spoken about the time he spends sitting, reading, and thinking. 

George Shultz, as Secretary of State, was known for protecting quiet time to walk and think through complex issues. 

None of these leaders were disengaged. They were deliberate. They knew decisions of consequence needed space to notice what wasn’t obvious at first glance.

When Leaders Disallow Thinking Time 

When leaders don’t have room to think, systems tend to drift toward doing more of what has always been done, rather than exercising intention and judgment.

At Wells Fargo, pressure to hit aggressive sales targets left little room for ethical reflection, a pattern that led to years of costly damage. 

At Boeing, compressed timelines and internal pressures overwhelmed thoughtful dissent — with tragic consequences.

In both cases, the issue wasn’t intelligence or effort. It was a high-pressure culture with no space to think clearly enough, early enough.

You are worthy of taking time to think. Thinking “yeah, but…?” Set up a quick 10-minute call with me. No fee, no expectation. Instant impact.

Mirror – Reflection Questions

• If someone studied your calendar, what would they assume you value most?

• Where in your week does everything stay busy because quiet feels inconvenient?

Door into Action: 5 Amare Steps to Making Time to Think

1. Protect a small pocket of thinking time. Two short blocks a week. No agenda beyond clarity. Make it sacred!

2. Allow your mind to wander. Quiet, interruption-free time—even a few minutes—often produces better ideas than focused effort alone.

3. Use the 20–20–20 pause. After every 20 minutes of looking at a screen, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Your eyes–and your mind–will thank you.

4. Try a one-minute reset. Eight slow breaths. Nothing to fix. Just quietly noticing whatever shows up.

5. Treat creative time as legitimate work. What you normalize for yourself quietly shapes the culture.

Amare Team Talk

Ask your team where thinking time gets crowded out. Choose one small experiment to bring in back—10 minutes to reset between every meeting, a shared quiet planning block, or rewards for thinking—and see what changes.

Your Inspirational Challenge

Many leaders were trained in environments where activity equaled value, speed signaled competence, and slowing down felt indulgent.

As your leadership responsibilities grow, the cost of unexamined decisions expands exponentially. Thinking time becomes essential, not optional. Thinking is where your intuition becomes insights. Patterns become visible, and your experience ripens into judgment. This is where your leadership regains its creativity.

Giving yourself time to think is a form of respect—for the complexity of the work, for the people affected by your decisions, and for your own capacity to lead well over time.

Give yourself time to think. Do it consistently, without apology.

Just do it.

–Moshe

Today’s Amare Wave Wednesday Quote

“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.”

— Warren Buffett

   

Click here and read more Amare Wave Wednesday newsletters on related topics:

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Slow Down, You Move Too Fast: The Hidden Business Costs of “Always On”

The ROI of Rest: 5 Amare Ways to Apply This Overlooked & Smart Leadership Strategy

The Power of Both: How Efficiency Plus Connection Drives Leadership Success

Do NOT Negotiate Your Non-Negotiables! How to Stay True to Your Word as an Amare Love-Powered Leader

   

Original article published on Inc.com.