You've finally carved out time to think. Your calendar is clear, your phone is away, and you're ready to focus on the bigger picture.

But then comes the question: What should I actually be thinking about?

In this episode of the Deliberate Leaders Podcast, Allison Dunn explores a challenge many busy leaders face: creating space for strategic thinking is one thing, but knowing how to use that time effectively is another.

Building on the previous episodes about thinking debt and the value of a weekly 20-minute thinking practice, Allison explores how leaders can move beyond reacting to immediate demands and begin directing their attention toward the questions that matter most.

• Making time to think is only the beginning. Strategic thinking becomes more valuable when you approach it with intention.
• Start with a meaningful question. You don't need to solve every challenge in one sitting. Identify one issue worthy of deeper consideration.
• Look beyond the immediate problem. Recurring frustrations may point to underlying assumptions, patterns, or systems that need attention.
• Separate urgency from importance. The issues demanding your attention aren't always the ones most deserving of your thinking.
• Turn reflection into action. The purpose of strategic thinking isn't simply to generate ideas. It's to make better decisions about what happens next.

• What challenge keeps showing up in my business or leadership?
• Where am I spending time reacting instead of addressing the underlying issue?
• What important decision have I been postponing because I haven't made time to think it through?
• What question, if answered, could create the greatest positive impact?

This week, protect 20 minutes for intentional thinking. Rather than starting with your to-do list, identify one recurring challenge, important decision, or opportunity that deserves your full attention.

Ask yourself what you might be overlooking, what assumptions you're making, and what would change if you approached the situation differently.

You don't need to walk away with every answer. Sometimes the most valuable outcome is discovering a better question.

Think First. Lead Deliberately.

Explore more leadership insights and resources from Deliberate Directions at deliberatedirections.com.

Ready to strengthen your thinking and build a team that does the same? Explore Allison Dunn's book, Think First by Allison Dunn | Stop Being the Bottleneck

Think First

What if 20 minutes of intentional thinking each week could save you hours of unnecessary work?

In this episode of the Deliberate Leaders Podcast, Allison Dunn explores how a simple weekly strategic thinking practice can help leaders move from constant firefighting to proactive problem-solving.

Building on the concept of "thinking debt" introduced in Episode 1, Allison shares how dedicating just 20 minutes a week to focused thinking helped her identify recurring problems, develop better systems, and reclaim valuable time.

• Small investments create significant returns. Twenty minutes of strategic thinking can eliminate hours of reactive work.
• Focus on one question. Give a single strategic challenge your full attention rather than tackling an entire to-do list.
• Eliminate distractions. Step away from devices and create space for uninterrupted thinking.
• Build consistency. Schedule your thinking time for the same day and time each week.
• Protect your boundaries. A firm 20-minute limit encourages clarity and decisive action.

• What recurring problem am I treating instead of solving?
• What assumptions am I making that might not be true?
• What is the real problem underneath the problem I've been solving this week?

This week, schedule 20 minutes for strategic thinking. Choose one meaningful question, put away your devices, and protect that time as you would an important client meeting.

Remember, strategic thinking isn't time away from your work. It's the work that makes everything else more effective.

In Episode 3, Allison addresses one of the biggest challenges leaders face when creating space to think: knowing what to think about. Discover three practical changes that can help turn an empty thinking session into meaningful strategic insight.

Think First. Lead Deliberately.

Explore more leadership insights and resources from Deliberate Directions at deliberatedirections.com.

Think First

“I’ll get to the strategic stuff when things calm down.”

It’s a familiar thought for business owners and leaders. But what if things aren’t calming down because there hasn’t been enough time spent thinking strategically in the first place?

In this episode, Allison Dunn introduces thinking debt, the ongoing cost created when important strategic questions remain unanswered.

Just like financial debt, thinking debt accumulates interest. Instead of dollars, leaders pay for it through repeated conversations, unnecessary decisions, constant interruptions, missed opportunities, and teams that remain dependent on them.

• Why constant busyness can be a symptom of insufficient strategic thinking
• What Allison means by “thinking debt”
• How one unanswered pricing question created more than 60 conversations for a business owner
• How two hours of focused thinking eliminated more than 50 reactive conversations
• Why the most expensive cost of thinking debt may be the opportunities you never notice
• How reactive leadership can unintentionally teach a team to stop bringing forward new ideas
• The difference between responding to today's problems and spotting tomorrow's opportunities
• The question every leader should ask about their own strategic thinking

When was the last time you had a genuinely new strategic insight?

Not a solution to an urgent problem. Not a response to something that went wrong.

An opportunity, risk, or possibility you noticed before it became urgent.

If you’re struggling to remember, your attention may be consumed servicing thinking debt.

In the next episode, Allison shares the “payment plan”: a deliberate thinking practice that takes just 20 minutes a week, including how she used it to save five to six hours each week within the first month.

Think first. Lead deliberately.

Think First