Cope with a crisis

David Allen, the Getting Things Done guy, is now writing for the Wired.co.uk. He wrote an essay called Cope with a Crisis that points out some of the effects of trying to be connected to everything everywhere 24/7.

He points out that:

There’s a chance that, in the last three days alone, you’ve had more change-producing, project-creating, priority shifting inputs than your parents, once upon a time, got in a year. Dancing to that music, they had to do a slow waltz, whereas you’re doing a jitterbug, with unknown gunslingers shooting at your feet. “Dance, you yellow-bellied knowledge worker! Let’s see you move, you caring and connected global citizen!’

and then provides some advice – “Ask yourself what has your attention now. Then ask, What do I need to decide, do, handle, and organise, to be able to have my mind let that go?”

He includes this wonderful quote

Reflecting that the dark sky was the most profound backdrop for appreciating random lightning, Zen priest Shunryu Suzuki said: “When we have emptiness, we are always prepared for watching the flashing.”

May we all be prepared for appreciating the random lightning.

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