a smaller one, and hence the flight is oversold.
Frank succumbs to the urgency of the moment. He leaps up and joins the other passengers, who all storm the agent at the gate. They demand answers, they vent their frustrations, and they demand to know how this situation will be resolved.
Ernest, however, does not. He knows thereâs no need to rush over and join his irate traveling companions in line. Thereâs a cooler, more effective way. He takes out his wireless PDA and goes online to the airlineâs website. There, isolated from the contagious confusion of the departure lounge, he rebooks his flight online, with no extra cost or inconvenience.
Having circumvented the chaos, Ernest takes advantage of the privacy that the departure lounge offers. He intentionally left his office an hour early in order to negotiate city traffic and airport security with ease. He arrived unstressed at the terminal and now proceeds to get an hour of focused work done.
Frank, the unseasoned traveler and caught in the vortex of speed, did not see any value in planning ahead. Instead, he worked to the absolute last minute at the office, grabbed a taxi, and paid the driver double to drive as fast as possible. He saw no point in arriving early just to sit in an airport. And now the vortex continues. He still hasnât got a flight, and his blood pressure is dangerously high.
Ernest, on the other hand, works away on his laptop until his new flight is called. He takes his time, and strides toward the gate.
Which person would you rather be? Which one of these people reflects your current approach to crisis?
What can we learn from these cases? When people are forced, through the stress of speed and momentum, to gloss over the parts that complete the process, relationships remain incomplete and success becomes elusive. Such is the price of personal blur.
Weâve now spent enough time looking at damage. In the next chapter, weâll pause and see how situations like Frankâs above gave rise to the actual global Slow movement. After that we will be in a better and cooler position to observe how we can accept and practice the techniques espoused by this movement in our busy lives.
KEY POINTS TO TAKE AWAY
⢠Although cars are physically capable of traveling faster, poor driving habits, fueled by an expectation of speed, cause wasteful delay.
⢠Event-to-event thinking forces people to act without factoring in necessary intermediary time.
⢠When planned for, gaps of time are opportunities for rest and creativity.
⢠The benefits of cooling and slowing down go far beyond the immediate and affect the quality of subsequent work, as well as the way you sleep at night.
⢠People who work through lunch do not gain as much as those who take a break, away from their desk.
⢠People who eat lunch while driving not only run the risk of being involved in an accident; they get no chance to mentally regroup and prepare for upcoming activities.
⢠Ambient momentum refers to noise and other activity within an open-concept environment that subconsciously drives people into a high-speed mindset.
⢠Ambient momentum also contributes to the decline in the human ability to communicate and resolve problems face to face.
HOW TO COOL DOWN : TIPS FOR AVOIDING PERSONAL BLUR
Blur
⢠Take stock of your day. Observe the moments when blur happens the most.
⢠Describe to yourself the cost of blur. Is it making you productive or is it ensuring you just tread water?
Lunch
⢠How often do you skip lunch?
⢠How often do you work through lunch?
⢠How often do you have âworking lunches,â or meetings in which lunch is brought in?
⢠Would you be able to schedule at least 15 minutes a day for lunch away from your desk?
⢠How would you alleviate your colleaguesâ worry about âlosingâ you during this time?
⢠Make sure your lunch includes time away from your
Frank succumbs to the urgency of the moment. He leaps up and joins the other passengers, who all storm the agent at the gate. They demand answers, they vent their frustrations, and they demand to know how this situation will be resolved.
Ernest, however, does not. He knows thereâs no need to rush over and join his irate traveling companions in line. Thereâs a cooler, more effective way. He takes out his wireless PDA and goes online to the airlineâs website. There, isolated from the contagious confusion of the departure lounge, he rebooks his flight online, with no extra cost or inconvenience.
Having circumvented the chaos, Ernest takes advantage of the privacy that the departure lounge offers. He intentionally left his office an hour early in order to negotiate city traffic and airport security with ease. He arrived unstressed at the terminal and now proceeds to get an hour of focused work done.
Frank, the unseasoned traveler and caught in the vortex of speed, did not see any value in planning ahead. Instead, he worked to the absolute last minute at the office, grabbed a taxi, and paid the driver double to drive as fast as possible. He saw no point in arriving early just to sit in an airport. And now the vortex continues. He still hasnât got a flight, and his blood pressure is dangerously high.
Ernest, on the other hand, works away on his laptop until his new flight is called. He takes his time, and strides toward the gate.
Which person would you rather be? Which one of these people reflects your current approach to crisis?
What can we learn from these cases? When people are forced, through the stress of speed and momentum, to gloss over the parts that complete the process, relationships remain incomplete and success becomes elusive. Such is the price of personal blur.
Weâve now spent enough time looking at damage. In the next chapter, weâll pause and see how situations like Frankâs above gave rise to the actual global Slow movement. After that we will be in a better and cooler position to observe how we can accept and practice the techniques espoused by this movement in our busy lives.
KEY POINTS TO TAKE AWAY
⢠Although cars are physically capable of traveling faster, poor driving habits, fueled by an expectation of speed, cause wasteful delay.
⢠Event-to-event thinking forces people to act without factoring in necessary intermediary time.
⢠When planned for, gaps of time are opportunities for rest and creativity.
⢠The benefits of cooling and slowing down go far beyond the immediate and affect the quality of subsequent work, as well as the way you sleep at night.
⢠People who work through lunch do not gain as much as those who take a break, away from their desk.
⢠People who eat lunch while driving not only run the risk of being involved in an accident; they get no chance to mentally regroup and prepare for upcoming activities.
⢠Ambient momentum refers to noise and other activity within an open-concept environment that subconsciously drives people into a high-speed mindset.
⢠Ambient momentum also contributes to the decline in the human ability to communicate and resolve problems face to face.
HOW TO COOL DOWN : TIPS FOR AVOIDING PERSONAL BLUR
Blur
⢠Take stock of your day. Observe the moments when blur happens the most.
⢠Describe to yourself the cost of blur. Is it making you productive or is it ensuring you just tread water?
Lunch
⢠How often do you skip lunch?
⢠How often do you work through lunch?
⢠How often do you have âworking lunches,â or meetings in which lunch is brought in?
⢠Would you be able to schedule at least 15 minutes a day for lunch away from your desk?
⢠How would you alleviate your colleaguesâ worry about âlosingâ you during this time?
⢠Make sure your lunch includes time away from your
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