As time goes by......

It seems to me that time does fly by; some argue this is getting worse over time and often cite the relativity theorem. By this I mean the idea that as we get older, each day is relatively speaking a smaller percentage of our total life and so must go by quicker. I ‘m not sure about that; I personally think that it has more to do with the fact we have got better at doing more in a day and secondly due to the increasing pace of communication in recent times.

When I first started as a national accounts manager, I carried a bleeper, which was used to summon me to call head office in emergencies. Now I have a mobile phone with me constantly, I don’t take emails on it, though many do, I do have a laptop with a dongle and so I am pretty much in continuous contact and life can get hectic.

It also seems to me that because my day is broken down into a series of meeting and planned activities this too seems to speed up the passage of time. For example I periodically help on a leadership course , the programme requires 84 hours of work over 5 1/2 days and I am given a document that virtually has my every waking minute is planned out; I’m rarely more than an hour or so away from the next change of activity. Time just seems to zip by.

For me, making the most of time seems to be about having some plan or job list for the day and being able to get on with it; preferably, it will be a list of small jobs, so I can tick lots of things off, and I need sufficient self control to tackle the “worst jobs first” which makes me feel very virtuous. It seems for me, being able to be pro active rather than reactive is best! It is more than just having a list though. A good day time-wise for me would involve a bit of work-life balance so I would want not only to be productive but have sufficient time that I could fit in a walk or a swim.

In terms of slowing time down, I have found a number of things that work from me. First, if you have the opportunity, I think it does pay to take an occasional break away from the workplace. It seems to be like a comma or a full stop in the day a chance to pause and take a breath. I am fortunate that generally my work requires me to travel out to visit clients in their premises, so it is usually possible to pull off on the journey in between and a take a break. I am such an activist that it is hard during the working day to just stop and , so I have found it useful to take this time to read the Bible or to pray. This seems to give a focus to the time, and yet still lets it be a break from the daily grind.

Having said that, of late I have been using public transport a lot more, mainly the train, but also buses; this form of travel does give me some substantial chunks of time when there is not so much I can do work-wise, and I have tried to use these times as a break to reflect and simply enjoy the pause.

Finally, I know swimming is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do find it both good exercise and a good time to pray and reflect. The exercise is repetitive, rhythmic and does not require much thought. Well not at my level anyway. So my mind is free to be available to anything God might want to say. I always come away from the pool more peaceful and refreshed.

Sins of Omission

I‘m sure you’ve heard of Russell Akoff, the architect who became a business guru, No, well neither had I until listened to a programme about him on the radio. He was a contemporary of Peter Drucker and spent most of his career at Wharton College in Pennsylvania.
Though he had spent a career teaching on MBA programmes, he believed 95% of what managers learnt was on the job training and most of that came from making mistakes. So in his opinion, it was vital not to discourage people from making mistakes, or they would stick to what they already knew and never try anything new.

He went further and suggested that there were two types of mistakes; some were mistakes of commission and others were of omission, and the later were by far the worst. They cited examples such as Western Union saying no to getting into telephones and Kodak saying no to digital photography. His argument is that our financial accounts quickly pick up and high light mistakes of commission, but not mistakes of omission. To avoid this, he suggested that companies log the things they decide not to do and review that decision later, say at 12 months. Sounds complicated, but some companies have tried it and they find it does improve their strategic decision making.

I think a similar set of principles apply to churches, people are more focused on what does get done than what doesn’t. It’s not so much about the finances, but if the worship isn’t right, the prayer time too long or heaven forbid the pews have to be moved, then there are serious questions in the house. On the other hand, I don’t suppose a Vicar has ever been taken to task for not attempting a church in the pub or in Asda’s etc. SO it’s not surprising that the full time clergy quickly get focused inwards.

In the person sphere, we also talk about sins of commission and omission; and again I have been wondering if sins of omission are perhaps the worst? Clearly if we were to steal or murder, these would be dreadful sins of commission, but they are on the one hand mercifully rare, and on the other they are often detected. But what about what is not done. A while back I was working with a management team who simply could not work together anymore; and it seemed to me that was as much to do with what they were not saying to one another as what they did say. The anger and rage had gone and all that was left was silence and resentment and no one was willing to break it. A sin of omission?