Don’t forget to take time to STOP!
We live in a fast paced, hectic world. We are always connected, thanks to laptops, tablets, smartphones, email, the net and text conversations. Social media is adding to the craziness of “always being on.” It’s insanity.
Try this simple observation… When you are sitting in the next meeting, scan the room and see how many of your colleagues are reading or replying to something on their phones. Some may even be doing it covertly beneath the edge of the table. Watch too what happens when the meeting adjourns. Most people will whip their phones out faster than a ‘quick draw’ at a dual in a bad western movie. In elevators, in hallways, on the sidewalk, at bus depots, on public transportation… Everyone, everywhere is connected yet, disconnected. Disconnected from reality, from thinking, from creativity, from life and living.
In business, I am seeing an alarming trend. There appears to be a acute loss of critical thinking in our world. If the answer to the problem is not available on Google, no one knows what to do about it. Ask a group of people to solve a question that takes some creative thought and watch how many people will attempt to use their technology.
As a leader, one of the most important things you can do for your team, your business and your shareholders is to decompress from the insanity so that your mind can actually think. I will often tell people that my best ideas come when I am standing in a hot shower. These days I think it may because our smartphones and tablets are not waterproof.
All joking aside, that precious time standing in the shower, alone with your thoughts is actually one of the best things that you can do as a leader and for yourself. It allows you to think ‘freeform’ and let ideas wander and flow. What comes from it is a level of consciousness and creativity that always blows me away.
Here’s my leadership challenge to you. Consciously commit to spending a period of time without your technology. Go for a walk by yourself or with someone else without being ‘connected.’ Turn off your phone for an hour a day. Do not use your laptop for a day on the weekend – do not even check email. The world will carry on. But more importantly, your mind will get sharper. You will discover things and people around you. You body, mind and soul will LOVE the feeling that comes from the decompression of not being connected.
