More Thoughtful About My Thoughts

Elliot Jacobsen, an HBS alumni and successful tech entrepreneur described how in his free time his mind goes on to envision new business plans.  This thoughtfulness is characteristic of true innovators. Elliot went on to say how In every spare moment he could find, he wrote down his creative ideas which now fill numerous binders.  Innovators like Elliot may see the time we spent idly waiting in line to checkout at the grocery store, or time spent walking to and from class, as an opportunity to ponder how an idea can be improved upon. Yesterday I was driving home and I found myself daydreaming about what it would be like to work for a certain company. I caught myself and realized that my thinking was completely unproductive. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with such thoughts, it was a waste, because such daydreaming is unlikely to help me achieve my personal goals of becoming a individual, family and global innovator. As I observed Elliot Jacobsen’s example, I have become much more thoughtful about my thoughts.