Source: Daily Inspiration & Motivation
Tag: effectiveness
Should I check E-Mail?
What we pay the most attention to…
“A relatively new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you.”
NY Times: The Brain on Love, by Diane Ackerman
Sources:
- Quote: SwissMiss
- Image: Mme Scherzo via vanfullersublime: “Foxtrot of the Collective Unconscious”
Absolutely unmixed attention is…
“Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”
~ Simone Weil
"[The French philosopher Simone Weil said, ‘Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.’] I love that. I think that could be as close as someone can get to a wonderful definition of prayer. In that sense, prayer has nothing spiritual or religious about it. A mathematician working at a problem or a little kid trying to pick out scales on the piano is a person at prayer. She’s not saying prayer is absolute unmixed attention; it’s the other way. The attention itself is the quality that she wants to call prayer. So whatever context you’re putting it in, whether it’s inside a church or inside a toy box, that’s the quality that is the sacred one."
—Translator Stephen Mitchell via Krista’s Journal: Approaching Prayer.
Sources:
- Post: Thank you via Crashingly Beautiful via It’s Like This.
- Image by artist Vladimir Queiroz Sejas. Thank you Anake Goodall.
Schooled…
Personal Behavior Pattern Observed: 
Major deliverable assigned. Have several weeks advance notice. Weeks click down. Put off preparation. Then half-heartedly start framing work. Set it aside. Get distracted. Deliverable constantly looming, hanging, distracting, irritating and making me irritable. Sleepless nights. Clock ticking down. Tell myself I’ll get to it during the weekend. (Right) Weekend comes and goes. Monday arrives. 1.5 days to go. Scrambling now. Can feel heart pumping. Grinding teeth. Anxiety screaming. Finish. Deliver request. Passed without giving blood…yet internal organs are still rattling.
Post Game Review: C+ (Gracious self assessment.)
Behavior of Colleague Observed:
Preparation commences weeks in advance. Back to back meetings scheduled. Full team engaged. Countless hours of preparation. Brainstorming. Discussions. Planning. Drafts. Work. Re-work. Ideas and issues are socialized with key constituents and decision makers attending meeting. Project rehearsed. Project presentation flawless. No surprises. Senior management feedback: Rally Hats On! “Wow.”
Post Game Review: A+ (Priceless)