Monday, August 25, 2008

The Rhythm of Things:

David Allen’s book “Ready for Anything” speaks about the rhythm of things:

“The longer your horizon, the smoother your moves”

Short term thinking, putting out fires and the squeaky wheel gets the grease, are all euphuisms for failing to anticipate. There is a rhythm to things. If you view the world through the myopic lens of today problems and deal exclusively in their realm, you will stumble badly because you will not see the opportunity that lies just ahead.

If on the other hand you view situations as opportunities than the world is yours for the asking. View the world not as a set of independent unconnected events, but rather as stream of opportunities each building on the other. When faced with a situation, do not ask what should we do to correct this, rather ask what can we learn and improve so that this situation does not reoccur. View the world from the lens of interwoven long term relationships and the moves you make will be much smoother.