Please Stop Fixing the Wrong Problems Really Well

We exist in a world in which being ahead fuels the pulse of everything we do.

The day, it seems, is no longer defined by hours, but by the technologies at our command.

We have indeed become space and time shifters:

The park bench has replaced the office, and the ability to talk to whoever, whenever has all but defeated distance. I wonder, though, if such rapid assimilation, distillation and access always makes us richer or as wise as we may think.

Whilst modern sociability has never been more powered or empowering, sadly such advancement has not come with too much improvement in our humanity or human capability to do better. Empathy all too often is an orphan. In fact I would dare to say that technology has outpaced our ability to keep up with its power as it relates to the way we treat one another and indeed all too often, how we treat ourselves.

Too many of us profess to be able to multitask and yet research shows that we are actually kidding ourselves. We are not that good at balancing, walking, talking, listening, remembering and imagining all at once. 

For many it would seem that lightning pace is fertile ground for advancement. Sociability is wonderful when done right. But so much of it is done wrong. In far too many instances it has created paupers of our basic humanity; by extension mediocrity is rife both in the business of life and indeed, the life of business. Stopping to think and to take care seems like procrastination and ‘pause’ a naked weakness.

I believe that understanding the complexity of our times and trying to master as best one can the nuances – by giving time to time – would help in the quest for personal authenticity. If truly embraced, such authenticity comes with pain and with it the eventual need to understand, so as to self-forgive as much as to forgive others.

We often bemoan the fact that we do not have time – indeed, that time is everything. Actually it’s timing; not raw time in and of itself. The power of harnessing time is knowing the moment and seizing that delicate thread: timing is what transcends the often perceived unnavigable, unreachable, unbelievable. But that is not enough.

It’s thought and preparation that finally give substance to timing.

You know, when we admire something, we tend to ask how long it took someone to make it. But I think perhaps we should pay more attention to how long it took to think about it, to prepare.

So many mistakes dangle like untidy gossamer from broken webs – because we miss-understand the value of time: To seek. To understand.

Careless speed is the single most recurring cause for fixing the wrong problems really well.

The next time you eat your favorite sandwich, chew it real slow.

The next time you hug someone you care about, hang on just a little longer.

The next time you do something or wish to say something think beyond yourself and where it may take you and others.

One cannot take in the richness of what surrounds them nor purpose the important things by the drug of thoughtless speed.

Do not mistake stillness for nothing.

And give time – to time.

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This blog initially appeared on Alexei Orlov's website here.