In This Edition Of The Soulful Lens at Work: ​
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This week we’re looking at why we don’t have time to think, and what it’s costing us. The good news is, we can change it!

• SOULFUL: Remember when deep work felt good? Flow isn’t fluff—it’s soul fuel.
• PRACTICAL: No thinking = no edge. Thinking time looks unproductive—until your competitors outpace you.
• THE CONNECTION: Want to move up? Start thinking like the strategist you’re becoming.
• TRY THIS: Don’t just hope for time to think—build it in, name it, and defend it like your career depends on it. Because it does.

Hi Reader,
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“I have no time to think.”
“I can’t get any work done with all these meetings.”

I keep hearing it. Over and over.

And here’s the wild part—these are knowledge workers.
People whose whole job is thinking.

Somewhere between back-to-back Zooms and the tyranny of the to-do list, we’ve erased the very thing we’re paid to do: process, imagine, connect dots.
We’ve systemically devalued thinking in favor of doing.

At the same time, I have noticed that if I share an idea, that has no immediate action or output, people don’t have a way to process it. There’s not time for ideas, just actions.

In this issue we’ll take a closer look at what the elimination of think-time is costing us - our souls, our careers and our company’s profit.

…And as with any cost, there’s also an opportunity.

Soulfully ✨
​- Jardena

Happiness in a State of Flow

Did we forget that deep thinking can feel good for the soul?

That hit of satisfaction when you untangle a gnarly problem.
The buzz after finishing a killer presentation.
Even writing this newsletter—*zing* — I’m feeling it now.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his 2004 TED Talk “Flow: The Secret to Happiness” defines the first condition for flow as:

How often do you enter a flow state at work?

Former Sony CEO stated the company’s mission as:

We lost the soulfulness that comes with deep thinking.

I hear people refer to thinking as a luxury, to be indulged in on weekends or after-hours. Or something they only have time for in the shower or while driving.

But thinking isn’t a luxury, it’s essential to our souls and it’s a practical part of business.

When Companies Stop Thinking, Competitors Gain Advantage

When no one has time to think, companies lose their competitive advantage. Products and services don’t evolve, they lose efficiencies, and they lose talent. They miss opportunities, and become vulnerable to disruption.

When we only value output, here’s what we miss:

• The introvert who processes deeply before offering gold
• The synthesizer who connects threads across silos
• The quiet strategist whose ideas need incubation time, not airtime

Some companies classify thinking time as “waste” because there is no tangible, predictable output.

But when people say “I have no time to think” it doesn’t articulate a business case, trade-offs. It sounds like complaining.

So how do we make the case for thinking time?

You can actually task out and quantify thinking! In Agile we call these “spikes”, they are mini-R&D cycles.

Frame your thinking time like this:

• Develop 5 new product feature ideas
• Research new tools
• Establish recommendation for marketing experiments
• Map connections to dependencies and ecosystem impacts

You can tie real business benefit to thinking time by being specific about the problem you’re solving with thinking time.

Career Advancement Requires Thinking

Here’s the paradox: Your job is pressuring you to focus on action and output; but your career requires you to think.

In a workplace starved of reflection, even a little thinking sets you apart. Just a little thinking will go a long way for your career.

What’s the catch? Why doesn’t everyone do it? There are three pitfalls.

1. No time to think. ​
   ​You’ve got a choice: spend the next hour thinking... or knock out a pile of emails.
   Let’s be honest—clearing your inbox feels productive. It scratches the urgency itch.
   But thinking? That lives in the “important but not urgent” quadrant—and that’s where careers are built.
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2. Hurdle to start.
   ​Thinking takes more activation energy than reacting.
   Opening your inbox is easy. Starting deep work? That’s a heavier lift.
   Why? Because unstructured thinking can feel like staring into the void.
   The solution? Give yourself a structure upfront.​
   A few good prompt questions or a simple framework can turn “I should think about this” into “Here’s how I’ll think about this.”
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3. What to think about.
   ​Sure, learning a cool new tool might feel fun.
   But reflecting on the political landscape? Mapping stakeholders? Decoding team dynamics?
   That’s the gritty thinking that shifts your influence and elevates your leadership.

If you want to move up, don’t just do more—think better.
The people who make a difference are the ones who carve out space to see the big picture, spot the patterns, and ask the hard questions.

It’s soulful because you’re thinking, you’re being creative, you’re in flow. And it’s practical because it helps your career and it helps the business succeed!
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Try this: Make Thinking a Habit 💡

• Give yourself Permission to Think
  ​If you won’t give yourself permission, I will! Thinking is working.
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• Go for a walk.​
  Don’t talk on the phone, don’t listen to a podcast. Just walk. Let your mind wander, or think about a specific problem.​
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• Block “thinking work” on your calendar.​
  Label it clearly—“Strategy Thinking,” “Leadership Reflection,” or “Systems Mapping.” Make it sound important (because it is), so others don’t book over it—and you don’t skip it.
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• Use prompts to get started.​
  Thinking needs a launchpad. Try:
  • What’s the biggest invisible risk in my current project?
  • Where is energy leaking in my team?
  • What assumptions are going unchallenged?
• Track thinking like output.​
  Did your reflection lead to a better decision? Did you catch a risk early? Did you untangle a people problem before it exploded? That’s ROI. Name it. Claim it.
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• Reflect weekly.​
  Ask: What did I think deeply about this week? What did I avoid? What needs more reflection next week?
  Thinking is a leadership muscle. Repetition builds power.

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These tips are powerful for transforming how you approach thinking in your work. Want to keep them handy? Download the cheat sheet below and start making thinking a regular part of your leadership practice. It’s time to give yourself permission to think!

Peter Drucker’s quote reminds us that action without reflection can lead to burnout or misdirection. Taking time to pause and reflect sharpens our next steps, making our actions more effective and impactful.