Editor’s Note: Thinking Time, 8 Years Later
Last updated: February 2026
I wrote this post back in 2017 after watching that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett interview. It changed how I plan my weeks. I want to share what happened since then.
I started with Thursday and Friday afternoons at Starbucks with blank papers and a pen. That was the beginning. Eight years later, Thinking Time is still one of my most important rituals, but it looks different now.
The biggest shift: I stopped going to coffee shops. I found that I do my best thinking during walks. Something about moving my body loosens up my mind. I’ll leave my phone at home, grab a small notebook, and walk for 60 to 90 minutes. No music, no podcasts. Just walking and thinking. Some of the biggest decisions I’ve made for Asian Efficiency came from those walks.
I also learned that Thinking Time works best when you give it a prompt. Early on, I’d sit down and think about “whatever comes to mind.” That’s fine, but it’s unfocused. Now I write one question on a piece of paper before I start. Something like “What’s the one thing that would 2x our revenue this quarter?” or “What am I avoiding right now and why?” Having a single question to chew on makes the session ten times more productive.
If you’re reading this for the first time, start with the challenge I mention at the end of the article: one hour, no devices, just a pen and paper. You don’t need a coffee shop or a fancy notebook. You just need to sit with your own thoughts. That’s harder than it sounds, which is exactly why it’s valuable.
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[Original article starts: “I recently came across an interview with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett…” and continues]
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I recently came across an interview with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that fascinated me.
There was one segment that really stood out to me. It was how Bill Gates and Warren Buffett use their calendars.
I used to be like Bill. Almost every hour of the day was planned ahead and packed. Warren is the opposite. His calendar is completely empty.
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Watch this 1-minute clip here where they discuss their calendars.
If you can’t watch it, here’s a transcript of it:
Gates: I also remember Warren showing me his calendar. I had every minute packed and I thought that was the only way you could do things. The fact that he is so careful about his time. You know, he has days that there’s nothing on it. Buffett (laughing): Absolutely, those are the best ones. Rose (looking at the planner): This is a week of April, of which there are only three entries for a week. Buffett (laughing): Yeah, there will be four maybe by April. Gates (joking): Yeah, file tax return… Rose: That taught you what? Not to crowd yourself too much? Give yourself time to read and think? Gates: Right. That you control your time. And that sitting and thinking may be of much higher priority than a normal CEO who, you know, there’s all this demand, and you feel like you need to go and see all these people. It’s not a proxy of your seriousness that you’ve filled every minute in your schedule. Buffett: People are going to want your time. That’s the only thing you can’t buy. I can buy anything I want, basically, but I can’t buy time. Rose: So to have time is the most precious thing you can have. Buffett: It is. I better be careful with it. There’s no way I will be able to buy more time.
Over the years, I changed the way I manage my time to be more like Buffett. It’s not because I realized time is the valuable asset we have. I already knew that.
What Buffett doesn’t explicitly say in the interview is that he values his Thinking Time. That’s why his calendar is empty. He uses this time to think.
If you’ve ever closely studied him, you know how much he attributes his success to this. Moments later in the interview (full interview here), he even mentions that he just needs one good idea every year to make an impact.
Where does this idea come from?
From lots of thinking.
Ever since I’ve come across the concept of Thinking Time, I’ve changed the way I plan and manage my time.
Over the past 18 months, I’ve been clearing my schedule. I went from planning every day as much as possible to having empty days for thinking time. The only days that are packed are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That’s when I do a lot of writing and project work.
But my Thursdays and Fridays are essentially free and “unplanned” for the most part.
I say “unplanned” because on my calendar I have a timeblock scheduled on Thursday between 12pm and 5pm as “Strategy and Thinking Time”. For Friday I have it set from 1pm to 5pm.
Why?
Knowing myself…if I don’t put it on my calendar I won’t do it. I will allow distractions and emergencies dictate what I do in my free time. By having it on my calendar, it’s easy for me to say no and focus on my thinking time.
I now look forward to Thinking Time every week. It’s when I will leave all electronics at home. I only stuff my backpack with blank papers, my Montblanc pen, and a book. That’s it.
I’ll go to a nearby coffee to read and just sit there all afternoon to think.
When you first do this, it will feel strange and foreign. Especially when you’re a busy person and have to run a business. There’s always stuff to do. It kind of feels like when you first start meditating. You get millions of thoughts going through your head as you try to sit still and focus on your breathing.
It’s the same thing with Thinking Time. At first, it feels weird but the more you do it, the more creative you get. Some of my best ideas and strategies came from sitting at Starbucks and sipping iced green tea. A lot of Asian Efficiency’s success can be traced back to my afternoons at coffee shops.
With Thinking Time, I finally got to work “on my business”, not “in my business”. Not only that, it also gave me perspective on my personal life. You don’t need to have a business to benefit from Thinking Time. In one of the afternoons, I had a huge realization about where I wanted to take my personal life in the next few years. In another afternoon I realized a really bad habit I had for years (that I finally addressed).
I want to challenge you this week to carve out thinking time. You can start with just an hour. Leave your normal environment for an hour and only bring a book, pen, and paper with you. No phone, laptop or any other device.
Order your favorite beverage and just think. You’ll be amazed how powerful this is.
-Thanh & the Asian Efficiency team
P.S. I’m planning to do a whole podcast episode about the concept of Thinking Time. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date when it comes out. In the meantime… ask yourself: how can I make Thinking Time a ritual?
Warren Buffett keeps his calendar mostly empty. In an interview with Charlie Rose, he showed a week in April with only three entries. Buffett intentionally leaves his schedule open to protect his time for thinking, reading, and evaluating opportunities. He believes time is the one thing money cannot buy, so he guards it carefully rather than filling every hour with meetings.
Thinking Time is a practice of setting aside dedicated hours with no devices, no meetings, and no distractions to simply think. To practice it, block one to five hours on your calendar, leave your phone behind, bring only a pen and paper, and go somewhere quiet like a coffee shop or take a walk. Start with a single question to focus your thinking. Consistency matters more than duration.
Scheduling every minute works for some people but can leave no room for creative thinking or unexpected opportunities. Bill Gates himself acknowledged that Warren Buffett’s approach of keeping days open taught him that controlling your time and leaving space for reflection can be more valuable than packing every hour. A balanced approach uses structured days for execution and open days for thinking and strategy.
Start by blocking one hour per week on your calendar specifically for Thinking Time. Choose a consistent day and time. Leave all electronics behind and bring only a pen, paper, and optionally a book. Write one question or topic to focus on before you start. Protect this time the same way you would protect a meeting with your most important client. Gradually increase to two to five hours per week as the habit builds.
Planning involves organizing specific tasks, scheduling activities, and deciding what to do next. Thinking Time is more open-ended and strategic. It focuses on bigger questions like where your career or business should go, what habits need to change, or what opportunities you are missing. Planning works in your business or life. Thinking Time works on your business or life. Both are valuable, but most people only do planning and skip the strategic thinking.
I’ve started teaching people something similar at my workshops… but maybe not as extreme as Warren Buffett’s approach. Some people schedule every minute of every day, like Bill Gates once did. I have found that scheduling only a few time sensitive meetings is much more effective for me.