Why Do You Think?

I attended a meeting this week where the speaker made a case to a group of top producing people against thinking. "Just do it" was his message. More specifically, the message was "just do what I tell you to do". Thinking was being discussed as a detriment to productivity. Don't think? Somehow, there seemed to be something significantly contrary about the message. Something Hitlerish. But, then again, Hitler was pretty productive in a horrible, disgusting, inhumane sort of way. So what do we do?


To begin with, never give up your responsibility for thinking. Thinking is a freedom you never surrender. It is a power that is a fundamental gift we have as human beings. However, undisciplined thinking can become its own kind of bondage. People can use thinking as a means of constant escape. Thinking can be an expression of arrogance which is really an outworking of insecurity. So, in a very real sense, thinking can be a detriment to productivity when it is undisciplined.


So, maybe the message is to discipline what you think. Think less, on purpose. Choose a system to follow. Choose a coach to follow. Choose a message to believe in and move forward in faith. That doesn't sound like not thinking. It sounds like thinking well. It sounds like thinking with conviction. It sounds like thinking as a professional.


I do believe top producing people have to make choices. What to think is one of those choices. Once those choices are made then we don't have to think about it anymore. It's done. There is the context where thinking is out of order. Once you have chosen then don't think. Just do it. Think about it. Do well, my friends.