Multi-tasking (a more politically correct term for “ADD”) has its advantages. It also comes with challenges (a more politically correct name for “crap”). Today, I was doing some adept task acceleration at my small desk: reading a proposal, reading an agreement, reading my emails, copying 47 pages of handwritten notes to send to my team in Chicago for “Kagan decoding,” Googling the nearest Office Max or Office Depot in readiness for when my black ink cartridge would run out (warning already given), making and eating my hi-protein/hi-fiber/low fat lunch wrap (only 5 WW points!), arranging files for later file arrangement…and then the paper tray was empty. And then I grabbed a stack of paper. And then I reached to put it in the tray…and knocked over my glass of Coke.
What a %$@^$@#@#^)^%!! mess. It went everywhere: wall, chords, papers, under cabinet and “to infinity and beyond” (a little Buzz Lightyear humor).
Let me ask you a question: What is the expression, the exact word, you used the last time you really made a mess? Come on, not the politically correct version. Right, me too!
After my instant (and if I might say gratifying) response extolling the power of excrement (a more politically correct name for…“excrement”), I paused to survey the situation. You see, there was something different in my reaction this time. Yes, I made a big mess: the towel and (eco-friendly) surface cleaner would eliminate the problem. Yes, I was working in a lot of confused clutter: the forced interruption made me slow down, rearrange the mess I’d created and clear off the things getting in the way. Yes, I was trying to focus on way too many things at once…seems like focusing on more than ONE THING makes an oxymoron (out of us).
Here’s where it gets sticky. We are arguably operating in an ADD society: more, faster, more, faster. We each get 30,000 bits of advertisement messaging every single day. We have been largely de-humanized through the advantages of technology (why speak or meet with someone when you can simply IM or Twitter them). We are so consumed trying to figure out everything we can become, that in our bus(y)iness we are missing the chance to experience exactly who we are.
When it happened, I was able to catch the glass before it spilled out completely. Damn, I wish it had spilled out completely! You see, it reminded me that the answer to the proverbial question has nothing to do with whether the glass was half empty or half full; it’s all about the glass.
(Emptying and filling) for emphasis – (b)
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