“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival” -Aristotle

Do you ever find it hard to have the time to just sit down and think? To think about everything, nothing, or something very specific in your life?

The busyness of life usually equates to half-formed thoughts bogged down by constant distractions and interruptions.

So few people understand the value of intentional contemplation and the ways in which it can improve your life.

Even further, if they do understand the value, what they lack is the time to be able to practice intentional contemplation.

Creating the time and space to intentionally contemplate your life is a form of personal development that is far too underutilized.

Intentional contemplation allows you to better understand yourself, your life, and those around you. It also allows you to foster a sense of creativity and imagination and sharpen your problem-solving skills.

Most importantly, intentional contemplation offers you freedom. Freedom in understanding, freedom in realizing that you may never understand, and freedom in the ability to critically think things through before emotionally reacting.

Here are the top ten ways you can redirect your time, allowing yourself more of it, to use for intentional contemplation.

#1 Less Entertainment

Being strict with your consumption is the number one way you can give yourself back the time needed to practice intentional contemplation.

Entertainment serves as a way to promote mindlessness, which is the exact opposite of what is required to think more.

When you take control of your consumption of entertainment, you take control of your time and your life.

#2 Have a Storage Unit That’s Not Your Brain

Your brain doesn’t need to be a storage unit.

There’s no need to try to remember what groceries you need to get at the store, that your friend’s birthday is in a few days, and that your dog has an appointment tomorrow at 9 A.M.

There are several alternatives to organizing these types of thoughts that don’t include trying to store them all in your brain.

My storage unit is the Notes app on my phone. But maybe you have a physical planner, or you put everything in your calendar.

Either way, declutter your mental space by storing important thoughts somewhere other than your brain.

This will allow you to have the capacity to practice intentional contemplation.

#3 Free Yourself of Micro Decisions

Humans make thousands of decisions a day.

If you’re caught up deciding what you want to wear to work, going through five different outfits and three different hairstyles, you waste 15+ minutes of time that could’ve been used for intentional contemplation.

Free yourself of pointless decisions by creating systems that allow you to avoid making thousands of micro-decisions every day or by delegating the decision-making to someone else.

This is another tip that can be used to declutter your mental space and allow you to have the ability to practice contemplation and introspection.

#4 Systems!

Systems are a mechanism to allow you to reduce the number of decisions you make in a day, thus having more time to dedicate to intentional contemplation.

You can use systems in your life to automate tasks and then replace the time that would’ve been spent completing these tasks with focused-thinking-time such as journaling or talking to a friend.

Often, it’s not about finding the time to practice intentional contemplation. It’s about looking for ways in which you can maximize the time you already have and create the space for intentional thinking by doing so.

#5 Delegate and Outsource Tasks

In the same way you can delegate decisions to free up some mental space, you can also delegate physical tasks that need to be done.

If you and your husband have a mutual friend whose wedding is coming up, have your husband order the wedding gift from Amazon.

Or, have your kids mow the lawn. Even better, have your personal assistant find the venue for your upcoming book tour (we’re dreamers over here).

Delegating tasks not only gets them off your plate but also frees up your mental energy.

You no longer have to sacrifice the mental energy towards remembering to get your friend’s wedding gift, choosing what gift you’re going to get them, figuring out when you’re going to get it, etc, etc.

Don’t feel guilty for delegating tasks that you know you can easily do.

Delegating tasks means you’re able to give yourself time to practice intentional contemplation, which will aid in your personal development and make you a better person.

#6 Take Regular Breaks

Someone who works 14-hour days and sleeps the other 10 has no time to think except for the thinking required to survive.

How are you to improve yourself and your life if all your thinking is geared towards your work or simply surviving the day?

You don’t have to take 30–60 minute breaks to achieve this. Just pause for 3–5 minutes to think about something other than the task(s) at hand.

Take a break to quickly analyze where you’re at in life and where you want to be going.

Zone out. Daydream a bit.

You’ll come to notice that it doesn’t take much to get a quick gauge of where you are mentally and what the state of your thoughts is, and what that means for your day.

#7 Embrace Minimalism

As much as you should try to declutter your mind, you should also strive to declutter your physical spaces.

Having your physical spaces free of an abundance of materialistic items allows you the time and space to think without the distractions of stuff.

The bigger the house you have, the cleaner it is, the less time you have to think.

The more clothes you have, the more laundry you do, the less time you have to think.

Not only that, but materialistic items often put a heavy weight on our lives that we don’t even realize is there.

Remove the weight and see the freedom it offers for you to intentionally contemplate.

#8 Journal

When you journal, you’re setting time aside to straighten out the jumbled thoughts that are constantly roaming your mind.

I used to struggle with journaling because I felt like my thoughts were spinning faster than my hand could keep up with and write.

But I realized that part of what made a healthy thinker was learning to slow the thoughts down and not let them spiral or become something that overwhelmed me.

Journaling is a practice to organize your thoughts, allow certain thoughts to properly exit your mind, and give proper attention to the thoughts that may be neglected.

#9 Embrace Solitude

Most of us play many different roles in the lives of others. We are a parent, a lover, a child, a sibling, a co-worker, a boss, a friend, and so much more.

Often, the demands of everyone in your life are incredibly hard to meet. It can seem like everyone needs something from you at all hours of the day.

Having to fill the roles we take on means we may not have the time to intentionally think and shed light on our thoughts.

Embracing solitude and the moments you are able to experience it, allows you the time to sort through your own thoughts.

It’s easy to use moments of solitude to think about what needs to be done for other people in our lives, but I encourage you to take those moments of solitude for yourself.

Whether it’s in the shower every evening, when you work out in the mornings, or on your drive to work, capitalize on those moments to sort through your thoughts and practice intentional contemplation.

#10 Learn to Be Great at Prioritizing Your Life

Finally, in order to have time to think, you need to be exceptionally talented at learning to prioritize the things in your life.

If you prioritize entertainment over intentional contemplation in your life, then you’ll always make time for entertainment and never make time for intentional contemplation.

If you want to be in better control of your thoughts and improve your creativity, imagination, and more, then intentional contemplation must be a priority in your life.

Instead of listening to a podcast on your way to work, just think about your life. Instead of listening to music while you take a walk, just think about your life. Instead of watching YouTube videos before bed, journal before bed.

Aside from prioritizing contemplation in your life, it’s important that you are able to prioritize the other things in your life, so you have time to think.

If you’re constantly going from thing to thing to thing without prioritizing the tasks that must be done, then you’ll be fed up trying to complete every task under the sun, while neglecting the practice of solitude and intentional contemplation.

Real Talk

Not many people willingly choose to dedicate a significant amount of their time, a significant amount of their life, to intentional contemplation.

But doing so gives you a deeper understanding of who you are and the world around you.

Not only that, but when you prioritize intentional contemplation, you’re able to improve your creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills.

You’re also able to better manage your emotions, thus improving your relationship with yourself and others.

Personal development means developing all aspects of who you are. This includes your ability to think, process emotions effectively, and understand the direction of your life.

Intentional contemplation helps you get there, and creating the time to do so allows you to experience the breadth of what this practice has to offer.