A New York Times article—“The Boss in the Machine”—reminded me how easy it is to surrender meditation… reflection . . . contemplation… daydreaming… just plain thinking about things to the technology that’s supposed to be working for us—not the other way around. Why do we have to multitask every waking minute? When is a person supposed to think these days? Does anybody even want to think? Does anybody alive enjoy solitude anymore? Or is everyone—even business executives—waiting to be told what to do?

Earl Nightingale asked “Do you know why people don’t automatically turn on their own vast mental resources when they’re faced with a problem?” Then answered his own question:

It’s because they they’ve never learned how to think…They remember, but that’s not thinking creatively, or thinking in new directions. They react to stimuli, but, again, that’s not thinking.

Remembering to set the alarm clock at night and getting up when it rings in the morning does not take thought. Nor do showering, shaving, getting dressed, eating breakfast and going to work. At work, we once again fall into comfortable routines. At quitting time, we go home and start repeating the process.

“Let me say it again: Most people do not know how to think. When they are faced with a problem, they will go to any length to avoid thinking. They will ask advice from the most illogical people—usually people who don’t know any more than they do…only one in ‘I-don’t-know-how-many-thousands’ will take a large note pad, write the problem at the top of the page, and then deliberately turn on his thinking apparatus.”

—Lead the Field

I think he was right. Business people need enough quiet space to seek out the biblical context of their marketplace issues. This does not replace collaboration; this enhances collaboration and bumps it up to the next level.

So where you find the uninterrupted time to reflect on what is going on in the busyness of your life… to make room for an “aha” experience where a special flash of recognition can occur and you can see the truth of the matter… where diverse elements can come together and make sense. It seems to me that about the only place left is the bathroom… maybe this is why I get so many great thoughts and ideas about my life—and my companies—in the shower! I have to do better than this. I just have to.