Thought of the Day, time to think

I don't make widgets for a living, I don't process piles of paperwork, or count bins of parts, or provide customer service; I think for a living.  Actually we all do.  The person who makes widgets thinks about how to make them.  The person who counts parts thinks about what supply and work flow.  The person who provides customer service, thinks about what it would take to provide a better customer service.  But most of employees are not paid to think, some are discouraged from thinking*, nor are they given time to stop and think about what it is that they do.  

It is hard to describe what I do, program, project and policy development is really the best description.  But at the core of it is thinking about how to create and produce research, programs and projects, and exploring policy issues and trying to create background research, findings and occasionally recommendations.  And I find that I get so busy doing all this, that I don't have time to think. 

I was listening to an interview on YouTube with Bill Gates, he said that once a year he takes two weeks away from the office to read and think.  It hit me that I need to set aside time to recharge my creative batteries.  I think I would have a hard time convincing my boss that I needed two weeks away from the office to read and think, but I can do a day or two at a time.  And I will, officially it will be listed as a telecommute day, and the day will be filled with reading about issues related to my work, and taking uninterrupted time to think. 


* I worked in retail for a few months while waiting to start law school and my boss told me she didn't pay me to think, and when she wanted me to think, she would let me know.