Mindless Activity? Snap Out Of It

All of us like inspirational people or leaders – people who are decisive especially when the decisions that they make pan out well. Jack Welch was that kind of person when he was Chairman and CEO of GE for 20 years, from 1981 onwards till just over the turn of the century. In a book that Janet Lowe brought out in 1998, entitled “Jack Welch Speaks,” she talks about a time when he took over as Chairman, that he asked a couple of questions about all the subsidiaries that were a part of GE. The question was: Can these be either number 1 or number 2? That was a hard question to ask. There was great evaluation that took place; decisions were made as to whether a particular company could be #1 or #2 in the market. They found that 348 of their businesses could not. These were immediately closed or divested off; the money that was got from them was invested in ones that could be #1 or #2 and GE never looked back after that.

One of the key principles that Jack Welch really brought out in that move was not to mistake activity for accomplishment. That is a saying that is credited to John Wooden, famous basketball coach in the United States. “Don’t mistake activity for accomplishment.” That’s a good word for us, because sometimes we can get caught up in activity and think that it is achievement. Yet, that activity can be quite routine, quite mindless and quite unproductive. And every now and then, it’s good for us to look at what we are doing and ask ourselves the hard questions, just as Jack Welch did way back in 1981. Can this be really productive? Can this be a #1 or #2 productive activity in my life?  Are all the things that I am doing really necessary, or are they just activity, unproductive activity that make me tired at the end of the day. Is it really going towards fulfilling my potential or accomplishing my raison d'être?

Anthony Haley pushed me into a discovery that I enjoyed reading about.  He referenced an experiment that famous entomologist, Jean-Henri Fabre had carried out in his study of insects. The experiment involved the pine processionary larvae of the moth Ochrogaster lunifer. The interesting aspect about this species is that these larvae are caterpillars that walk in a procession – they all follow the caterpillar in front who leaves behind a silk trail, that enables everyone else to follow. They walk in single file, nose to tail, moving like a miniature train. Jean-Henri Fabre in his experiment picked them up and put them in a circle around the circumference of a pot’s rim. And each caterpillar’s head touched the one in front. He then placed the caterpillar’s favorite food in the middle of the circle created by the procession around the rim of the flowerpot.

What was most interesting was that they each followed the one ahead, thinking that it was heading for the food. Round and round they went for almost seven days. At the end of this mindless activity, they slowly started dying of exhaustion and starvation. They couldn’t stop this senseless circling of the flowerpot and move towards the food which was less than six inches away from them. They were unable to break out of this routine; couldn’t extricate themselves from this mindless behavior.

It made me think that sometimes we get caught in doing routine stuff that is really not going anywhere. It’s not productive. And yet, the reality is, that mindless activity has its consequences. And whether we like it or not, we are responsible for those consequences.  The larvae died.  The endless, mindless activity killed them.  Activity—mindless or productive—has its consequences.

However, another facet of these larvae invite further thinking. While going about their “processional” business of eating into pine and cedar trees in Central Asia and Southern Europe, these caterpillars (when not placed in an experimental circle) know when to break the line, head out by themselves, find a place, build a cocoon and wait to become the moth, Ochrovaster lunifer. They know when to break away and metamorph into something more beautiful, more productive and closer to the reason for their existence.  A lesson to be learned!  Do we?  

Do we know when it’s time to break out of a circle of endless, unproductive activity? Do we know when it is time to move away from a chain and say, “Now is my time; I’ve got to move away and do something that I need to do, something that I was born to do.” Can we recognize the time and seize the day?  The latin words Carpe Diem, which the Roman poet Horace used in his Odes, way back in 23 BC, literally means  to ‘pluck’ (it’s ripe) – pluck the day, enjoy the moment. The day is ripe for picking.  I like that.  It’s not about just seizing the day, any day, but the day that is ‘ripe’ and ready for seizing.

I wonder if today is your day. Whether it’s time to say, “Today is the day to begin being who I am, who I ought to be and who I was meant to be. Today is the day that I need to seize the fruit, pluck the fruit because it’s ready.”

Our Scriptures say in Psalm 118: “This day belongs to the Lord! Let’s celebrate and be glad today.” let’s celebrate and be glad because this is the day where we really take a good hard look at our lives and think, “Are the things I am doing meaningful? Or do I need to do a reality check? Do I need to stop this endless cycle? Do I need to head out and do what I’m supposed to be doing, ought to be doing – the reason that I was born for.” Maybe today is the day to pluck the fruit because it’s ripe and enjoy the moment. May God give us wisdom to decide that for ourselves.

May I offer up this prayer? 

Almighty God, stop us from going round and round, if we are. Initiate a movement away from just mindless, unproductive activity. Give us the imagination to see who we are through Your eyes and to be able to seize the day, knowing that this is the day that You have given, and a day that belongs to You, and that You invite us to celebrate it and be glad. I pray this over each one, and pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

Endnotes: 

• Janet C. Lowe, "Jack Welch Speaks: Wisdom from the World's Greatest Business Leader." (New York: John Wiley and sons, 1998).
• John Wooden quote: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnwooden380232.html
• Anthony Haley, "Don't Mistake Activity for Accomplishment.” " http://www.eremedia.com/ere/dont-mistake-activity-for-accomplishment/
• John-Henri Fabre, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Henri_Fabre
• Oscar Groening - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-21/bookkeeper-of-auschwitz-appeals-jail-sentence/6635348
• Carpe Diem, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpe_diem
• Psalm 118:24,  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+118%3A24&version=CEV

Not Just Yet

By Dr. Cecil Clements

A couple of weeks back I remember putting off doing something, until the window that I had to do that passed and it was too late. I remember feeling so bad about it – was really upset with myself, angry and all the other emotions that come with knowing that you ought to have done something and didn't do it. Now it was too late.

I came across this article by Rick Warren on "Why Do I Procrastinate?" because basically that's what I did. Interestingly he had a verse from our Holy Book: "Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:17) Basically, the Bible is saying that if we know that we have to do something and we don't do it, then we're really making a big mistake. It's not something that God would want us to do; that's what sin is. In the article, he gave five reasons for procrastination. I thought that I'd throw these out to see and see if it triggers something in you, because we all tend to procrastinate.

‘START’ PRIORITIZING

by Dr. Cecil Clements (15th May 2012)

I want to share with you this morning on the whole issue of prioritizing.

William Gladstone says, “He is a wise man who wastes no energy on pursuits for which he is not fitted; and he is wiser still who, from among the things that he can do well, chooses and resolutely follows the best.” In other words, we are wise if we put our energy and pursuit into the things which are good for us and which we are suited for, and even wiser still if we are able to find out the things that we can do best among the things that we can do well and tenaciously follow those things.

I realize that sometimes it’s easier said than done, because we can get so caught up with the mundane and the trivial, that we forget the important things.

TIME OFF – TIME ‘WELL’ SPENT

Today is the last Tuesday of 2011 and the next time we come together will be in 2012. I have this mental picture of driving down a road and coming to crossroads, 4-way stop signs and thinking that this is a good time to put our lives in neutral for just a minute and ask the question, “Do I go straight, keep going the way I’ve been going? Or do I make some adjustments, right or left turns? Am I where I ought to be?”

The late French President, François Mitterrand used to always say, “Give time for time.” Take the time to really see what you are doing with time. That’s a good thought for us on the last Tuesday of 2011. Have we been making the best use of our time in 2011 and is that the best way to move on into 2012?

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

The other day, a friend of mine was bemoaning the changes that were happening all around, as opposed to what was there some years back – talking about the fact that loyalty and experience these days, didn’t count for too much; youngsters were replacing older people; contracts were replacing tenured corporates from companies. Basically he was saying how today’s work environment was getting increasingly difficult and stressful.

Reflecting on what he was saying, I thought how often we hear about some colleague who lost it in the office – suddenly blew up for something seemingly quite innocuous. Or somebody saying that it was the straw that broke the camel’s back – a small thing but the reaction to it was huge and had major implications in the workplace. It could have been you because we are all under tremendous amounts of stress these days.

Time Management

As I was thinking what to share with you, I came back to the whole concept of time. And as I thought about that, I remembered the words of a well-loved song from ‘The Sound of Music’. A classic movie which revolves around Maria who starts out as a nun and then has to deal with whether it is her calling or not. In the monastery, the nuns have a tough time with her and sing a song about her, the words of which made me think. “How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you keep a wave upon the sand? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?” All impossible things – try holding a moonbeam or try keeping a wave back.