When you reflect, you gain the ability to take stock of where you are, where you’ve come from, and where you want to go. You also gain a heightened ability to deal with the day-to-day challenges in your life, as you ponder the problems that arise for you on a regular basis and consider better ways of handling them.

For the purposes of our work here, “ponder” means the same thing as “reflect” or “mull over.” This final habit is perhaps the most impactful of all, because it encourages us to take time out from our hectic daily schedules to sit down quietly and consider life. 

Leaders who ponder regularly gain deeper insights into themselves as well as the challenges that they want to solve. Pondering on issues before acting or reacting often helps you find more innovative and creative solutions to your problems.

Pondering also increases your ability to tune into your own desires and needs. Leaders who ponder become more in tune with their intuition and sense-making because they have set aside the time and space to access their wisdom and gain a clearer perspective.

Pondering is a critical thinking behaviour that illuminates the fact that there are always a variety of explanations and solutions to the issues in our lives. The more isolated a leader is in their day-to day decision-making, the more crucial it is that they make “ponder time” a daily ritual.

Some questions that can be helpful to mull over in “ponder time” include: 

• Do I really know all the facts? 
• Could there be numerous interpretations of these facts? 
• What conversations could I have that would bring more insight and diversity to my problem solving? 
• In making my decision, am I acting or reacting? 
• Can I let a day or two pass before making a final decision?