What Time Is It? January 2006
Is this scene familiar? Your family or friends gather to eat at home or a restaurant. During the meal a phone rings. Someone answers the phone and is swept up in a conversation that doesn’t concern or involve anyone else present. Another scenario: during conversations with families, friends, or business colleagues you become uncomfortably but acutely aware that the other person is not paying attention to you; either they are text messaging a friend, dialing or answering their cell phone, or staring at you with the glazed look of someone lost in space. Welcome to 2006. We have, it seems, created a society where everyone is rushed, preoccupied, or somewhere else. To attain personal greatness, we need to be aware of a growing societal epidemic and master the discipline to combat it.
What is this societal epidemic? Instant, 24/7 information offers us all we need to know about what others are doing. Yet it is not information that challenges us but instead the subtle, insidious belief that real life is happening everywhere else, rather than right where we are. The epidemic we suffer from is F.M.S.: ’fraid of missing something. It’s manifest in our constant need to know what others are doing, to rush what is occurring right now and move on to something else (supposedly better), or to attempt to do many things simultaneously so we won’t miss out on anything. How do we combat this epidemic?
Patrick McDonnell is not a philosopher by profession, he is a cartoonist. Drawing the comic strip “Mutts,” Patrick offers tidbits of wisdom through the lives and voices of a small family and their dog and cat. In a recent Sunday strip, the dog asks the cat a question. “Hey, Mooch, do you know what time it is?” “Sure,” replies Mooch. “It’s NOW. It’s always now. Here…look at my watch.” And Mooch shows his watch which only has one hand pointing to the word “Now” and adds, “It’s never wrong.” That concept of time is a discipline many of us would do well to learn.
Changing behavior begins by becoming aware of current behavior. Notice how often you are not in the moment. Do you find yourself focusing on other tasks while in the middle of one that’s not yet complete? Are you trying to recall what someone just said because you weren’t really listening? When you contact friends, does it always seem they’re having a better time than you?
Once aware of how you have been caught up in the F.M.S epidemic, the second step is clearing the way for new behavior. Simply slowing down or stopping the influx of extraneous information will eliminate some of the distractions. Turning off your cell phone, at least while visiting with friends and family communicates a powerful message about how important they are. Focusing on your conversation with someone elevates their sense of self worth and, offers the change to learn more about them.
Finally, how about accepting that the only time we ever have is right now. This means making whatever you are doing or whomever you are with preeminent. Great individuals have a remarkable ability to focus on the task or person in front of them. This discipline can transform your world; every moment becomes an opportunity to discover the joy of work, the richness of connection with others, or even the peace of relaxation. Eckhart Tolle suggests simply, “always say ‘yes’ to the present moment.”
What time is it? It is always NOW.
The Greatness ProjectTM is researched and written by:
Scott Asalone & Jan Sparrow
Copyright © ASGMC, Inc. 2006