Jeff Davidson's Blog, page 8
September 9, 2019
Better Living Through Less Clutter
With the introduction of satellite television, the Internet, which was not prominent before 1993, and all the consumer choices that exist, many things that compete for your time and attention. If you cram that into the same 24-hour day or 168-hour week that you have always had, then your perception will be that time is speeding by.
For example, if you talk to a friend, watch a single television show while doing nothing else, read a book, or engage in any singular activity for one hour, you will have a certain perception of how quickly that hour will pass. But, if you pack more tasks into that same hour: the television being on, trying to read a book, maybe eating, maybe looking at 4-year-old; maybe a friend calls; maybe fiddling with an iPhone, and so on, then you perception of time changes. So, the more things that you can fit into that hour, then more things compete for your time and attention, and the faster that hour passes will seem to pass.
Does this seem like all the makings of a chaotic life? We each have 24 hours in day, so how are you supposed to fit in all of your daily tasks without getting so stressed out or frustrated that you cannot finish any? The answer is: less is more.
You can only eat one meal at a time. Focus on the task at hand and reflect on that 60's phrase, Be Here Now! You can actually taste the food when you are eating. You can actually watch the show that you are watching. You can actually play the sport that you are playing. Have the emotional and financial strength to let go of all the peripheral items competing for your time and attention and focus on the activity at hand.
The message that is being disseminated in contemporary society is to practice multi-tasking. "Do multiple things at once." "Click here." "Push here." "Turn me on." "Switch me on." Every place you look, you are besieged by more items competing for your time and attention. Now, people actually have dwindling attention spans. They lack the ability to remain focused on the same subject for more than a few minutes and, sadly, some people for more than a few seconds.
The key to reclaiming your time is to practice the art, something I call an art, of doing one thing at a time. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Focus on the task at hand and be present in the moment.
For example, if you talk to a friend, watch a single television show while doing nothing else, read a book, or engage in any singular activity for one hour, you will have a certain perception of how quickly that hour will pass. But, if you pack more tasks into that same hour: the television being on, trying to read a book, maybe eating, maybe looking at 4-year-old; maybe a friend calls; maybe fiddling with an iPhone, and so on, then you perception of time changes. So, the more things that you can fit into that hour, then more things compete for your time and attention, and the faster that hour passes will seem to pass.
Does this seem like all the makings of a chaotic life? We each have 24 hours in day, so how are you supposed to fit in all of your daily tasks without getting so stressed out or frustrated that you cannot finish any? The answer is: less is more.
You can only eat one meal at a time. Focus on the task at hand and reflect on that 60's phrase, Be Here Now! You can actually taste the food when you are eating. You can actually watch the show that you are watching. You can actually play the sport that you are playing. Have the emotional and financial strength to let go of all the peripheral items competing for your time and attention and focus on the activity at hand.
The message that is being disseminated in contemporary society is to practice multi-tasking. "Do multiple things at once." "Click here." "Push here." "Turn me on." "Switch me on." Every place you look, you are besieged by more items competing for your time and attention. Now, people actually have dwindling attention spans. They lack the ability to remain focused on the same subject for more than a few minutes and, sadly, some people for more than a few seconds.
The key to reclaiming your time is to practice the art, something I call an art, of doing one thing at a time. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Focus on the task at hand and be present in the moment.
September 4, 2019
Your Environment, Your Control
At my speeches audience members say to me, "I'm able to handle the tasks in front of me for the day, but if I get one more call or one critical email, everything is just thrown off." That's why it is important to condition your work environment.
Observe your office, your car, your home, and all of the other physical spaces in your life, and ask, "What can I do to make these spaces work for me in the way I work and in the way I live my life?"
Take your desk, for example: realize that it must be specifically set up for you. Position your PC monitor in the way that's most comfortable for you. If you need tissues, candy, or certain supplies, then put them on your desk, close at hand.
Look at your desk in new ways. Align it so that it supports the way you work, regardless of how it looks to anyone else. Never mind what the person down the hall thinks! Identify the items you need, and then condition your desk to work for you. Remove piles from the window sills or cabinets tops and put them into file folders. Gain some clear space!
Observe your office, your car, your home, and all of the other physical spaces in your life, and ask, "What can I do to make these spaces work for me in the way I work and in the way I live my life?"
Take your desk, for example: realize that it must be specifically set up for you. Position your PC monitor in the way that's most comfortable for you. If you need tissues, candy, or certain supplies, then put them on your desk, close at hand.
Look at your desk in new ways. Align it so that it supports the way you work, regardless of how it looks to anyone else. Never mind what the person down the hall thinks! Identify the items you need, and then condition your desk to work for you. Remove piles from the window sills or cabinets tops and put them into file folders. Gain some clear space!
August 29, 2019
Out of Control?
Early warning signs when you’re heading for an "out of control" situation: Control is always based on your perception; still any time you start stacking horizontal piles on your desk you are operating in a malfunctioning mode.
If you find yourself perpetually 5 to 10 minutes late for meetings and always handling activities up to the last minute before turning your attention to what is next, you are leaving yourself wide open for some anxious moments. Also if you don't give yourself enough physical space to handle a task you are also likely to feel out of control.
If you find yourself perpetually 5 to 10 minutes late for meetings and always handling activities up to the last minute before turning your attention to what is next, you are leaving yourself wide open for some anxious moments. Also if you don't give yourself enough physical space to handle a task you are also likely to feel out of control.
August 19, 2019
Sleep-deprived Professions
The top 10 most sleep-deprived professions are:
* Company directors (averaging 5.9 hours of sleep a night)
* Ambulance crew/paramedics (6 hours)
* Tradesmen (6 hours)
* Leisure and hospitality workers (6 hours)
* Police officers (6.1 hours)
* Factory workers (6.2 hours)
* Nurses (6.3 hours)
* Engineers (6.3 hours)
* Doctors (6.4 hours)
* Civil servants (6.4 hours)
August 12, 2019
Wealth Explained
"Wealth is the ability to fully experience life." -- Henry David Thoreau
August 7, 2019
A Better Commute
1. Keep your car in top shape. Take it in for servicing if you even suspect something is askew.
2. Join an automotive club. They pay for themselves after one tow.
3. Wean yourself of flicking on the radio the moment you step into the car, or of listening to shock talkers who offer little to your life. Instead...
4. Install a CD player to control your environment to and from work. Patronize your local library for lectures, plays, books, and music on CD.
5. Ride with the windows closed and the A/C on. You'll get the same MPG as otherwise, the ride will to be quieter, and you'll have more control of your immediate environment.
6. Keep spare car keys in your house and spare house keys hidden in a faithful "Hide-a-Key" compartment which magnetically attaches under the bumper.
7. Hide several quarters, key phone numbers, a pad, and a pen in your car.
8. During your ride, reflect on what you'd like to complete or how you'd like your day to go.
2. Join an automotive club. They pay for themselves after one tow.
3. Wean yourself of flicking on the radio the moment you step into the car, or of listening to shock talkers who offer little to your life. Instead...
4. Install a CD player to control your environment to and from work. Patronize your local library for lectures, plays, books, and music on CD.
5. Ride with the windows closed and the A/C on. You'll get the same MPG as otherwise, the ride will to be quieter, and you'll have more control of your immediate environment.
6. Keep spare car keys in your house and spare house keys hidden in a faithful "Hide-a-Key" compartment which magnetically attaches under the bumper.
7. Hide several quarters, key phone numbers, a pad, and a pen in your car.
8. During your ride, reflect on what you'd like to complete or how you'd like your day to go.
July 27, 2019
A Bad Idea: Multi-Tasking,
What happens when you jump between different projects at one time? It may feel dynamic -- after all, you're exerting lots of activity. There's a severe loss of productivity, however, because your brain works on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is fine for computers but not so great for human beings.
Although it may seem like you're working on several things at once, your brain is turning back and forth between the tasks. Switching from task to task is not as productive as staying on one job until it is completed. Studies have been published that indicate the harmful, long- term effects of multi-tasking. Practice the art of doing one thing at a time!
Although it may seem like you're working on several things at once, your brain is turning back and forth between the tasks. Switching from task to task is not as productive as staying on one job until it is completed. Studies have been published that indicate the harmful, long- term effects of multi-tasking. Practice the art of doing one thing at a time!
July 23, 2019
Your Privacy in Being Invaded
The scary all-too-true reality of the data about you that the big websites collect, and store FOREVER
What Google knows about youWhat Amazon knows about you
What Facebook knows about youWhat Internet people finders know about youInside the mass invasion of your privacy
What Google knows about youWhat Amazon knows about you
What Facebook knows about youWhat Internet people finders know about youInside the mass invasion of your privacy
July 15, 2019
Temptation, Tempatation
Notes from
Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism
by James B. Twitchell, Ph.D.
Chronicling America’s increasing absorption in materialism, "the most shallow of the twentieth-century’s various isms," Twitchell examines the cycle of conspicuous consumption.
Comparing the influence of contemporary marketing and advertising to that of the Renaissance-era Catholic church, he contends that both "sell peace of mind either in this world or the next."
He finds celebrity spokespersons to be "priests" of marketing, the subject of "hagiography" in television commercials that are "an almost perfect mimic of religious parables” which pay for sitcoms that instruct Americans in "how branded objects are dovetailed together to form a coherent pattern of self-hood, a lifestyle."
Shopping has become integral to the construction of the modern self. Infomercials and home shopping networks are the ultimate conspiracy, with their one-sided, two-dimensional falsely "interactive" setup.
by James B. Twitchell, Ph.D.
Chronicling America’s increasing absorption in materialism, "the most shallow of the twentieth-century’s various isms," Twitchell examines the cycle of conspicuous consumption.
Comparing the influence of contemporary marketing and advertising to that of the Renaissance-era Catholic church, he contends that both "sell peace of mind either in this world or the next."
He finds celebrity spokespersons to be "priests" of marketing, the subject of "hagiography" in television commercials that are "an almost perfect mimic of religious parables” which pay for sitcoms that instruct Americans in "how branded objects are dovetailed together to form a coherent pattern of self-hood, a lifestyle."
Shopping has become integral to the construction of the modern self. Infomercials and home shopping networks are the ultimate conspiracy, with their one-sided, two-dimensional falsely "interactive" setup.
July 9, 2019
The Act of Raising Kids
"...raising children is the most civilizing exercise in life, for the parent, in transmitting values to the young, must examine his beliefs and attitudes again, as if for the first time."
-- Lance Morrow, Essay, “Fathers and Sons,” Civilization, Jan/Feb 1996
-- Lance Morrow, Essay, “Fathers and Sons,” Civilization, Jan/Feb 1996
