At a meeting last week, I was talking with a person who told me about some large challenges they were wrestling with in deciding where they wanted to take their company. As they shared the pros and cons of their various options, first from one angle, then from another perspective, I realized that this person really needed some uninterrupted time to thoroughly consider and work through all the matters they were facing.
In our hectic and fast paced world, sometimes it is difficult to set aside time to consider, contemplate and incubate various issues facing our companies. The word I like to use regarding this type of time is “pondering”. From my experience, there are three types of pondering time:
- Quick thinking about your business time
- Designated business pondering time
- Individual business owner planning time
Quick Thinking About Your Business Time
This is the type of time where you are redeeming otherwise “wasted” time. For instance, taking time to listen to an educational Podcast or CD while driving and then considering your company in light of what is being presented. Or while sitting in a doctor’s waiting room reading some business-related reading material you have with you.
Alternatively, using your commuting time and lunch hours for planning, thinking and dreaming about your business. Or you could make the choice to turn off your radio and listen to a recording that will expose you to new information, ideas, or concepts that can help you achieve the vision for your company.
This time could last 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, maybe an hour – it just depends on how much time is available. There is no formal agenda for these times, and there may be no outcome, but you are just musing about some aspect of your business.
You can do this almost anywhere – in your car, in a waiting room, while exercising, during the time you are going on walk, etc. Therefore, I recommend always have some reading material or information regarding your business in your car or in your brief case so that you can take advantage of even small amounts of free time to plant seeds in your mind. The outcome from this time can enable you to make steady progress in laying a hold of the dreams for your business because of using these snippets of time to focus on your business.
Designated Business Pondering Time
These are longer periods of time where you have an issue or problem you are trying to solve with regards to your organization. To utilize this time effectively, you want to have some specific information with you that pertains to the matter you are thinking about. Generally, the outcome from this type of “stepping back” time is a decision or a course of action that you choose.
I suggest doing this any place you like to go to just think and be uninterrupted. I personally do this when I go for a walk on a dirt road close to my house where there is very little traffic to interrupt my contemplation. Recently I was visiting Dowdell’s Knob in F. D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia which was the place President Franklin D. Roosevelt liked to regularly visit when he wanted to have time to contemplate major decisions he was about to make.
This time involves taking an extended period to think about, ponder, “noodle,” or incubate an idea, issue, concept, situation, problem, or opportunity. “Incubate” is a key word. Sometimes you just need to mull something over, examine it from several directions, and consider as many options or ideas as possible regarding a certain issue or area of your business to have these “seeds” germinate in beneficial ways.
Individual Business Owner Planning Time
The third type of time is formal planning time for which you ideally have created some type of an agenda. Depending on how complex your operations are and the issues with which you are dealing, this designated planning time could be several hours to several days long.
A desirable setting for this activity is your favorite place to go to think and process without distractions or interruptions: the beach, the mountains, a state park, a resort, anywhere you feel relaxed and peaceful. These are excellent locations for this extended time of planning and evaluation.
By contemplating the problem, considering various solutions, and pondering on the efficacy of various alternative you will be able to choose the best option. In this process, it may be useful to ask questions like the following as it pertains to the problem and alternative solutions.
What if…?
I wonder if…?
Would this work better if…?
I can solve this if…?
What would it look like if…?
How would this work if I…?
Individual business owner planning time includes setting aside time to just ponder and “possibility think” in a deeper way about the direction of your business and what it could look like in the future. It also can involve time spent considering items from your Quick thinking about your business time and Designated business pondering time that you want to explore further.
While more than just wishing, or hoping, pondering what your company could look like is letting your imagination create a clear image of what you want your business to be like in the future. The result should be so clear, so specific, that it becomes as real as your favorite memories of your childhood neighborhood!
If you need assistance with taking your business or organization from where it is to creating the business of your dreams, please contact us using the below information so we can show you how to ponder your way to a successful future.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17 years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive and systematic, innovation, business planning and growth Structure of Success™, Innovation Academy™ and FastTrak Innovation Program™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century operation.
Office phone: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: Business Planning, entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
