Friday, February 8, 2002

Beyond busy

Sometimes you can actually get more accomplished by slowing down. How can that be? When you rush through each day, your attention becomes scattered and fragmented. You quickly do a little here, a little there, a little here again, before rushing off to do a little more somewhere else. It keeps you busy, yet it often accomplishes very little. All that effort transitioning between different activities doesn’t leave much energy or attention for the activities themselves.

So have the courage to regularly stop and ask yourself -- what’s the rush? The value you create does not depend on how many things you can cram into a given amount of time. The value you create depends on the quality of the results you achieve within that time. Give your focus and attention time to build some momentum, rather than switching them abruptly as soon as they get going.

Accept the fact that you’re not going to do it all at once, then take joy in the process of giving each activity the time it deserves. Rather than simply being busy, tap into the incredible power of your focus and attention, and be amazed at how far you can go.

— Ralph Marston

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