How often do people really spend quality time thinking? Sir Isaac Newton was asked about how he discovered the concept of gravity. He replied, “I thought about it all the time.” It would be great if we truly took several uninterrupted hours to think about our organizations each day, but most people do this less than two-three times per year.

We often opt for the first solution that comes to our mind… many times based on past experience, a past example or even a past success. This may provide a functional solution, however, it rarely provides “the best solution.”

A past mentor taught me the value of concentrated thinking. He always challenged me to find at least five solutions to the problem and to examine each solution considering the costs, benefits and future consequences. The best solution usually was discovered about solution number three or four and often was a combination of several ideas.

This may be somewhat contrary to concepts presented in books like “Blink,” by Malcolm Gladwell, who describes the power of thinking without thinking, in a blink of an eye. If you look deeper into how you think, you see that uncovering the most important factors to success are what really matter most…regardless of if it happens in an instant or it takes us a few hours of concentrated discovery.

The wisdom of intuition and first impressions is often undervalued… we agree. However, spiral thinking as a dream-making methodology can also generate tremendous benefits.