Schedule Thinking Time for MSP Business Growth

Is thinking time something you give yourself in your business? Can you remember the last time you just stopped? Have you ever done it?

I don’t mean taking time off work, or flopping on the sofa after a long day. I mean really stopped—no phone, no emails, no tabs open—just you and your thoughts.

If you’re anything like most IT business owners I speak to, that kind of stillness sounds both impossible and uncomfortable.

But here’s the kicker: the best ideas I’ve ever had—the stuff that’s actually moved the needle—never came when I was in “hustle” mode (and boy, do I hate that phrase!). They came in the quiet.

Why Thinking Time is Essential

This thinking time often gets labelled as unproductive. But that’s not true.

1. Reactive mode is a trap. It feels like progress, but it’s usually just motion. Busy being busy.
   
2. Strategic thinking creates clarity. When you lift your head, you spot patterns and problems you’d never see on the tools.
   
3. You’ve earned the right to pause. You built this business. Now give yourself permission to step back and steer it.
   

How to Schedule Thinking Time

So we’re agreed that thinking time is good, right? But as busy MSP owners, how the heck do you actually interrupt your day to do it?

What you need is actual space to breathe, reflect, and solve problems properly—without rushing to the next interruption.

Most MSP owners I know want their teams to be more strategic, more proactive, more valuable. But then they overload them with back-to-back tasks and wonder why nothing improves.

I’ve learned this the hard way in my own MSP business. What I found was when I stopped filling every available hour with “doing,” something unexpected happened:

We got more done. And it was better.

A ‘Thinking Time’ Experiment

1. Schedule ‘No Meeting’ blocks. Even just 2 hours a week. Protect them like gold. This tells your team it’s OK to think—not just react.
2. Ask bigger questions. What’s broken that no one’s fixing? Where are we being busy, not effective? Let the team chew on these.
3. Capture and use the insights. Have a shared doc or short check-in for reflections. Some of the best client initiatives I’ve seen started as “thinking time” scribbles.

Block 30 minutes this week. No screen. Just paper and pen. Ask: What’s really going on in my business right now? What’s the one thing I’m avoiding that could change everything?

If it sounds simple, that’s because it is. But it’s also powerful.

And if you want a more strategic MSP, you’ve got to create space for strategic thinking. Trust me when I say, no tool or RMM script will do it for you!

So what do you think? Do you give yourself a break to just think? How has it helped your MSP business?

You Might Also be Interested in

• Implement Circuit Breakers for MSP Growth and Wellbeing
• Podcast: Richard in the Hotseat: Advice on Business, Wellbeing and Growth
• Why Time off is Vital for MSP Leaders’ Mental Wellbeing

You might like: