Moving Too Fast
Sometimes I move too fast. Maybe my attention span has been eroded by all of that tweeting and the never ending Facebook updates. I caught myself skimming through a book the other day just so that I could catch “the good parts” or find something that caught my eye. I realized that the book looked pretty good and I would probably enjoy sitting down and reading it. But I put it aside atop my ever growing pile of books I don’t have enough time to read. I’m just too busy right now. I’m sure I’m not alone. Everybody has too many things demanding their attention these days. Children, house, work, friends…and the list goes on. We are cursed with over-rich and over-stimulating lives.
Obviously this has been on my mind of late as I rush about pell-mell from one meeting to the next. I’m starting to get this nagging feeling that If I could just find a way to slow down a bit, I might be a much more effective person. Well, that begs the question, “What would slowing down look like?” Are there some constructive things I could do to more effectively manage the pace of change in my admittedly all-too-agile life? You see, sometimes I’d rather be really good at just a few things than mediocre at a lot of things.
So what can we do? Here are a few ideas:
Meditation: (Reflect) Take the time to reflect on what you are doing and how you are living
Journaling: (Make it Visible) Start to capture the frantic pace. This is the first step toward bringing it under control
Share it with others: (Transparency, Feedback) Share your experience with others and compare notes.
Apply time management practices: (Prioritize) Adopt David Allen’s GTD, Personal Kanban, or perhaps the 7 Habits. Whatever works best for you.
Measure: (Value) Use apps like Mercury App to rate your performance as you work to simplify and focus.
Stop blogging…Hey! Where did that come from?
Or maybe we should just go over to zenhabits. I’ll let you know how it goes…