Deep thinking...

and contemplation is often uncomfortable. It's the type of thinking that requires that we stay with problems for longer and with greater focus. But it can produce significant results. 

We live in a world of fast food, fast connection, fast business, fast money, fast cars and fast sex. 

Increasingly, we want easy solutions or quick fixers for our problems. But as quickly as we've solved one issue, another arises. Working for one of the big banks in the city of London 5 years ago, nothing epitomized more this type of thinking, than what was required of me back then. 

I worked in trade support and it was my responsibility to confirm and settle trades. Essentially I was taught to always cover my back. As long as I followed protocol then everything would be okay. This required me to think fast from one step to the next as I covered my bases through each trade cycle.

Deep contemplation though is a lot more difficult because we're required to grapple with numerous ways to arrive at the best solution to our problem. Albert Einstein worked this way as he struggled to prove his theory of relativity. After years of thinking about this one problem, one day he stopped thinking about relativity. In that moment the solution became clear to him. 

He never would have got there had he not spent years digging into his idea of relativity. In a time when things are moving faster and faster, where things are getting increasingly complex, we've come to believe that the solution to our problem is right here, right now. 

If we're looking for better quality products, services or ways of life with built-in signs of craftsmanship or mastery, then we need to spend time contemplating our ideas. Talk about them, refine them, rework them and then refine them some more. Unless of course you want more fast ......