In an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still…

In 1971, Herbert Simon, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978, warned,

“ A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

Herbert Simon died in 2001, and I’d bet there’s a high probability he was only just starting to understand the true extent of his predictions.

In today’s highly charged business environment, we’re all facing an overload of too much ‘stuff’. Business leaders and their employees are often overwhelmed and in overdrive, many living in constant state of stress that has, worryingly, become the norm. In fact, during in my time in business, I have seen (and at times become swept along with) the notion that unless you are frenetic in your activity; your schedule jam packed and your phone constantly ringing, that others may see you as inefficient, or worse, lazy.

My post today is less about the inefficiency of multi tasking (of which I have written before) and more about the importance of taking stock. Travel essayist Pico Iyer perhaps summed it up better than I ever could when he said,

“In an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow… in an age of distraction, nothing is so luxurious as paying attention… in an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still.”

Being engaged with our digital devices 24/7 connects us socially in a way we might never have thought possible. Now, regardless of location, your relatives and friends can watch your children grow up; your relationships unfold and share as your life unfurls.

But, these digital devices also connect us to work like never before. We risk our brains becoming perpetual-motion machines that put us in an unremitting frenzy. In his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, by Klaus Schwab, the author says

‘ It is not unusual for me to talk to leaders who say they no longer have time to pause and reflect, let alone enjoy the ‘luxury’ of reading even a short article all the way through.”

Previous industrial revolutions liberated humankind from animal power, made mass production possible and brought digital capabilities to billions of people. This Fourth Industrial Revolution is, however, fundamentally different. It is characterised by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.

Schwab calls for leaders and citizens to “together shape a future that works for all by putting people first, empowering them and constantly reminding ourselves that all of these new technologies are first and foremost tools made by people for people.”

In the workplace, we are all guilty at times of punishing or thinking ill thoughts of those who work slower, thinking them dilatory rather than methodical or thoughtful. 

This post is as much a reminder to myself as anyone else that it’s OK… no, make that ESSENTIAL, to step back from our deluge of multiple competing demands to, as Pico Iyer so wonderfully put it, ‘indulge’ in the exhilarating notion of going slow.

Mark.

P.S. I was recommended a book on this subject by a fellow coach – Tony Crabbe’s “BUSY: How to thrive in a world of too much”. Despite purchasing it over a year ago, I have only just started to read it in recent days and am looking forward to completing it and ‘regaining a sense of mastery’.