I do the best work when I work in a slow focused manner.
This is a bit of a consciousness awareness thing - you would think after all these years I would have gotten that - but it has been borne out time and time again in the recent past. If I can focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else and work on it in a manner that is methodical (read "slow") I can do it without any errors.
Great. Self awareness. You think it would be more useful, correct?
It is, but it has two major issues confronting it.
The first is, of course, that we live in a driven age. Speed is the nature of the work world - first to market and that sort of thing. The luxury of having the time and focus to work on one thing at a time would simply seem to be that: a luxury. And in an age of "multi-tasking" (which all the writing and research say is terrible but all employment world continues to love) the concept of presenting "attention to detail given sufficient time" is not going to win a lot of applause.
The second issue is much more personal. I can take the time and do things right - but time is the commodity we never have enough of. Accepting this about myself - and it really seems to be true - there are certain implications - like the amount of work I can accomplish well will drop by a factor of 10. The amount of things I can do will also drop accordingly.
But is that such a bad thing? I have written how I feel the circle of my world contracting; if it contracted into lesser things but much better done would that be so awful?
It is a matter of pride: of admitting that I have this limitation and then working on it as a strength not as an impediment. Hard to swallow, perhaps. But perhaps far more stress reducing in the long run.
I think that self-acceptance is a great step towards joy and gratitude for who you are. I lost a lot of years trying to "multi-task" and getting nowhere in the process. I know that I lack focus and I know that I am easily distracted and discouraged, so I don't put pressure on myself anymore to do what I know deep down will cause me angst or stress. I try to surround myself with activities and chores that I know I'm okay at. That's not to say I won't try something new! But there are things that aren't worth the precious time I have left to live, so I don't even bother. And just continuing from your last post, one of those things that I refuse to find time for is society, for me, it's a waste of my time.
ReplyDeleteIt is a tricky shoal for me to navigate Rain. At some level such things have come to be expected in the modern work life and I have to have the ability to complete a number of tasks. The trick, perhaps, is to be able to separate those into the things that must be accomplished and those that do not or can be delegated. For my personal life, it will probably require a re-evaluation of what I am doing in order to pare the list. I just cannot do everything.
DeleteAnd yes - "society", on the whole, is a low return item.
Thanks for stopping by! - TB