MUST-READ OF THE MONTH: In business and in life, your first thought is rarely your best thought, and you need to schedule time to just … think. Sounds frivolous, right? Not if you want to get the most out of your business and your life. “A lot of people see thinking more than a few minutes as a waste of time, but this viewpoint is shortsighted and flawed. While it might take me 30 minutes to come to the same conclusion that you come to in 5, I’ll likely have a better idea of the nuances of the situation, including which variables matter the most. I’ll know what to watch for and I’ll know how to frame things for other people to appeal to their interests. Not only will collaboration take less time, but I’ll make fewer mistakes. That’s the real advantage.”

Who doesn’t want a 10x return? “Thinking time is non-linear. The time you spend thinking – walking around a problem in a three-dimensional way and exploring all of the various perspectives and mental models – pays you back tenfold in the end.”

Next, go read Maker vs. Manager: How Your Schedule Can Make or Break You. The best quote: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands

Want to know who took time to think? Steve Jobs, that’s who. Love him or loathe him, the man’s thinking changed the lives of multiple generations in his brief time on earth. Jobs would have turned 63 on 24 February. Go watch his 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University. Then go think about what you’re going to do to make the most out of the day today — and every day. (Watch, runtime: 14:33)

(Oh, and speaking of Steve Jobs: The Wall Street Journal would like you to know that Dad Style is now in fashion. “Yes, even the jeans”. Think of it as normcore taken to its most (il)logical extreme.)