Take action.

It’s incredibly common advice, and it’s generally useful.

Unless of course the direction you're going leads you to fall off a cliff.

What most people don’t say…

The lessons I’ve gathered from reading biographies of people I consider great follow a different theme: It’s not hard to take action, What is hard is sitting down and thinking.

We think thinking is that thing happening inside our head while we get on with our lives.

We let it happen unconsciously instead of courting it intentionally and the benefits that come from it.

Thinking is the height of human potential.

Of all the things humans have accomplished: pyramids, skyscrapers, airplanes, going to the moon, etc…, nothing compares to the development of our capacity to think.

It’s our crowning achievement. Without it, nothing else is possible.

In the business, professional, and entrepreneurial world, we criticize people for overthinking.

Nobody likes an ‘idea guy’ when it’s time to put your head down and work.

And fair enough.

Also, no marketing team likes accountants looking through the details of a project. That doesn’t mean it’s not valuable to have him there.

We would all benefit wildly if we understood that thinking is our most important job.

Thinking has the potential to make more money than any other skill you possess.

The goal of thinking is to produce a decision.

Jeff Bezos says he is doing a good job if he can make 1 to 2 high-quality decisions a day.

In Warren Buffett’s own words, he sees his job as making 1 high-quality decision per year.

And it’s crazy to think what a difference a high-quality decision can make compared to a mediocre one.

One extremely high-quality (or lucky) investment decision can make your grandchildren rich.

Deciding what partner to live the rest of your life with has obvious and dramatic consequences.

Where to live, what career to go into, what business to start, what house to live in, who to marry, who to go into business with, and how big of a house you’ll live in are a tiny amount of the decisions you’ll make throughout your life. Yet, these few decisions have a massive impact on the outcome of your life.

All that to say, if you want to live a more successful life, spend as much time as possible thinking, and thinking about ways to make your thinking better.