Issue 56
FINDING FOCUS
| Multitasking is Making You Stupid (Inc. Magazine) |
| Doing several things at once isn’t just distracting, it actually takes points off your IQ, scientists say. See also “Multitasking–a medical and mental hazard“(Harvard Medical School). |
| Simplicity-Minded Management (CIO Magazine) |
| Complexity is killing your organization, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In this classic article, originally published in Harvard Business Review, we see how simplicity can be a source of not just sanity, but competitive advantage.See also “Managing with Simplicity” (USA Today) |
| (See also the video version) Among the obstacles to living well is today’s frenetic pace of life. Busyness, hurry, overload, burnout — it’s known by many names, but it also kills the most important part of us: This lifestyle distracts us from God and undermines the abundant, joyful life God offers us. That’s not just speculation, it’s the conclusion from this study of 20,000 Christians in 139 countries. |
| “The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become…You should write that down. You should repeat it regularly. You think you have to be someplace else or accomplish something else to find peace. But it’s right here.” That counsel from Dallas Willard to John Ortberg is just a sampling of the wisdom available in Ortberg’s latest work. Here are the first two chapters of Soul Keeping. |
| A friend of mine is the Executive Director for an organization with global reach. He is intelligent and driven, but constantly distracted. At any given time he will have Twitter, Gmail, Facebook and multiple IM conversations going. Why do otherwise intelligent people find it so easy to be distracted from what really matters? |
| Binge Entertainment, Bane of our Existence (NY Times) |
| Content providers are moving from a la carte to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Whether it’s watching a whole season of “24” or “House of Cards” on Netflix, or wasting a couple hours a day consuming political news, we’re tempted to indulge. “Binge entertainment,” as it’s called, is the latest trend in Americans’ penchant for overdoing it, and the gorging is likely to get worse. |
| Amusing Ourselves to Death (book excerpt) |
| It’s a book you should be aware of, a prophetic work from 1985 and then updated 20 years later. It’s thesis? Look no further than the title. Our technologies undo our capacity to think. They put us in a self-imposed bondage. They can steal from us autonomy and freedom. Here is the hauntingly-accurate Foreword to the 1985 edition. |