Today’s Tuesday Reading, Slow Down, is an essay by Jason Murray, Network Architect at the Washington University in St. Louis. [He may be reached at jemurray@wustl.edu.]
His essay first appeared as a program reflection earlier this year.
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller
There is a never-ending dialogue of information swirling around within my head; the next idea, the next task, the next big project, the next MOR lesson to be put into practice. The list of things that demand some amount of attention never seems to end. Finding the time to focus on a single task seemed like an arduous battle that could not be overcome, until I realized that I need to do one simple thing, “slow down.” In hindsight, this seems both obvious and simple, but for me it was neither. It took a long time of self-reflection and critical feedback, to realize there was a problem. I could no longer sustain the multi-tasking, context switching, never-ending-list lifestyle.
Understanding and implementing this simple concept, opened up time to spend thinking of ways to refocus priorities, solve the important issues, acknowledge the accomplishments, and thoughtfully plan for the future.
What follows are a few of the lessons, in no particular order, I believe have evolved since making a conscious effort to slow down:
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Jason’s advice to slow down is very important and should resonate with everyone. We’ve permitted our collective and individual worlds to become so fast paced that we neither have the time, no really take the time, to do our very best work or build and have the relationships that bring us joy and satisfaction with the lives we live. So, take Jason’s essay as a “shot across the bow” and do some serious rethinking.
Make yours a great week. . . . jim
Jim Bruce is a Senior Fellow and Executive Coach at MOR Associates, and Professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus, and CIO, Emeritus, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
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