Solitude and Leadership ⇾
Fantastic article on the differences between being an excellent doer and an excellent thinker and how that affects leadership. In a time when our generation, our culture, sorely needs better leadership, this message should be well received.
We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of expertise. What we don’t have are leaders.
Big bonus points for referencing Heart of Darkness often.
[ via @craigmod ]
The Myth of Multitasking ⇾
A little bit of commentary where I remind myself how good this article is, and so pertinent today even though it was written three years ago.
When We Read ⇾
The folks behind Read It Later put together an interesting read showing trends in usage of their application. The aspect that gets the most attention is the reading times by device. My own usage of my devices (Macbook, iPhone, iPad) would mirror their findings.
[ via MinimalMac ]
30 Days Without Facebook and Twitter: What I Learned ⇾
Jesse Gardner share about his recent 30 day fast of Twitter and Facebook. He includes a lot of the usual thoughts you hear from this sort of experience, but he also includes a few nuggets that caught my attention. Specifically,
Wondering why no one listens to your good ideas? Start making them happen and you’ll have people’s undivided attention.
and
When you find yourself to be busier than you can bear, make a list of all of your responsibilities, organize them by genuine priority and work as hard as you can with the time you have. Then let go of the guilt of not completing the things of lesser importance.
That last one hit home hard for me — 2011 has so far been more work that I’m comfortable with and I struggle with guilt about meeting expectations. And while I know that work is nowhere as important as other areas of my life, translating that into peaceful living is not always easy.
Thanks for the reminder Jesse.
This weekend I read a (re)tweet from a talented person that expressed this basic sentiment:
How come the guy reading a book at a park bench doesn’t come under the same scrutiny as the guy checking his email at the park bench?
My initial thought was, “Hm, good question.” But after thinking it through, it makes sense to me why these two activities are different and why people have had enough of the second scenario and are expressing annoyance when it occurs.
The guy reading the book, even if in a public space, is usually there for that very reason. He wants to read a book and has chosen an attractive, comfortable place to do so. He’s made the decision to give his attention to this activity and is following through on it.
The guy checking his email comes under scrutiny because most likely he’s come to the park for some other reason. But rather than devote his attention to that reason, he’s fragmenting his attention and checking his email (Twitter, RSS, Facebook etc.) while also giving his attention to the primary reason for being there. He is in fact doing performing both activities less well than he would if focused on one at a time.
Let’s be realistic here: I’m making the assumption that the tweet in question originated from a person who has had this scrutiny directed at them (present company knows the feeling). No one would really complain about the person who purposefully takes their connected device to the park to enjoy an attractive, comfortable session of email responses. Really — there’s no reason for complaint there.
The complaint comes from the fact that a lot of us are sick of the friend or acquaintance who gives us less than their full attention. The complaint also comes because we’re starting to get tired of being that person ourselves. Especially when we see the cost is has on our relationships with those we care for the most.
At the end of the day, when my kids are asleep and the house is quiet, is when I’m reminded of my greatest fear: nearing the end of my life and looking back with regrets. Especially regrets regarding my investment in my children. I’m thankful to be in a place where that fear has started to overcome the desire to stay up to date.
Thank God.
A friend shared this link this morning and the timelessness was unbelievable. Every December I tend to post something between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, both looking back and looking forward. This year I did not, mostly because my wife and I have been discussing life and referring to 2011 as the “year of here”. Her idea, not mine. And so, no post this year — thankfully because I was focused on a relaxing holiday with my family.
I’ve done a great job over the past couple of years carving out time for myself. Even if it means getting up at 4:30 AM, I ensure that my mind has time to just … go where it needs.
Sadly, too much of that time ended up in meditating on work and work related projects. Which is okay, to a degree. But with increasingly busy lives, when do I spend my time pondering how I can meet the needs of my children? My wife? Friends, neighbors and co-workers?
Contemplation, meditation, deep thought — whatever name you put on it, it’s needed. To learn, to sift, to grow.
For us, we trying to make this the year of here. When at work, it still applies, but to focus on one thing. And when work is over, I want to be intent on my children, not simply in close physical proximity. To be intentional. That takes time and thought.
This video was a another confirmation of these ideas. I seek stillness. Whatever your spiritual beliefs are, this is a message we can all benefit from.
[ via Noah Stokes ]
The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains ⇾
Author Nicholas Carr in an article in Wired.
On the Net, we face many information faucets, all going full blast. Our little thimble overflows as we rush from tap to tap. We transfer only a small jumble of drops from different faucets, not a continuous, coherent stream.
A fascinating — and frightening — reinforcement of what we are all coming to know. The article focuses on web pages littered with links, images, and video, but I would assume that computers with a multitude of applications has a similar affect on our work.
And so we ask the Internet to keep interrupting us in ever more varied ways. We willingly accept the loss of concentration and focus, the fragmentation of our attention, and the thinning of our thoughts in return for the wealth of compelling, or at least diverting, information we receive. We rarely stop to think that it might actually make more sense just to tune it all out.
Man, that really hits home.
