I don't know how many of you are cricket enthusiasts, but I remember watching the India-Bangladesh match in the recently concluded World Cup. If you watched the match yourself, you'll know that one of the key, most exciting moments of that match was when M. S. Dhoni took the catch of Soumya Sarkar down the leg side; a brilliant catch, diving to his left and the ball just stuck there. He later dismissed it as a fluke, but it was a brilliant catch and lovely to watch as well. It was also an important point because both Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan were rebuilding Bangladesh's innings when Mohammed Shami bowled this cross-seam bouncer to Sarkar and all he could do was guide it down and Dhoni took the catch.
I've seen many replays of that catch, on television, Internet and even in my own mind, because it was such a brilliant effort. But, thinking about that and the way he dived to his left, sometimes my heart goes out in appreciation to the goalies who guard the goals for football and hockey. Oftentimes, they don't have what cricket wicketkeepers have, in that they see a bounce before it comes to them. Goalies often get it straight in a penalty shot where the kick comes in straight, without any bounce. They can't guess after the bounce where it's going to go, because it's coming straight. Statistics show that 12.6% of goalies move to the right, 14.2% move to the left. Yet, the best position for a goalie to be in on a penalty kick is to stay where they are. 33.3% of the shots come straight. But rarely do goalies stay there. They are moved to action and it is impossible for them to just stay still and face the consequences of having done nothing when the ball was coming in.
Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats called this an aversion to idleness that all of us have. Within ourselves, it is not possible for us to stay idle and not do something. There is a need or a bias toward action, that somehow prevents us from doing what seems to be the right thing.
I am also a music enthusiast. I love music. Recently, we were doing the Hallelujah Chorus, one of the major works that Handel wrote. And at the end of that chorus, there are four hallelujahs and they come one after the other. Then there is a pause and then the fifth hallelujah comes. It is so dramatic. But if you take that pause away before the fifth hallelujah, it would just be another hallelujah. The effect of that pause is so huge – there's a sense of 'wow' at the end when the fifth hallelujah is sung. That's the importance of having a pause. Yet, very rarely, do we give the pause that importance.
If you go back to the statistics that I gave you on goalies – while 33% of the shots come directly to the middle, only 6.3% of goalies stay in the middle – they are either diving to the left or to the right. Again, it comes down to what Gino and Staats say – that we have a bias toward action. The A and B is what I would say is the remedy for unproductive busyness – an aversion to idleness and a bias toward action.
Andrew Simon says, "Activity unfortunately, does not always equate to accomplishment."
In a study that was done at Wipro's tech support call center in Bangalore, the employees were asked to go through training. Some of the groups of employees going through the training were asked to spend the last 15 minutes of each day writing about and reflecting on the lessons they had learnt that day. But other employees just kept working at the end of day for those 15 minutes and did not receive additional training. What was the result? Over the course of one month, the reflection group increased its performance on the final training test by an average of 22.8% more than the control group of trainees who had been working 15 minutes longer per day.
Take time out from busyness and reflect – just to think through what was said, what was learnt, what was processed – had a much better effect on their performance. Why does reflection have such beneficial effects? It's because:
1. It makes us more aware of where we are,
2. It gives us information about our progress,
3. It lends us the confidence we need to accomplish tasks and goals.
Important reasons for us to slow down and reflect.
As Confucius said, "Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous." It's so important for us to be able to spend down time, to be able to take time off and say, "I need to get away for a couple of minutes or even 15 minutes or an hour, and spend time doing nothing, letting my brain replenish, work through, process all that has happened in the time that I've been working."
Essayist Tim Kreider, writing in The New York Times, says, "Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets."
That made me ask the question this morning: Do I provide enough down time to myself? Do I have moments that I can reflect? Do I get away from the busyness of a day for some time to allow my mind to process? Are my evenings filled with activities connected to work or can I tune off and just do something that is completely different? Can I just sit and think or watch something and enjoy beauty and allow the brain to process and replenish?
These are important moments for our day, not only as we look at ourselves but research too is beginning to bear that out. It is important for us to have down time, that continuous productivity can have a negative effect on the work that we do.
"Be still and know that I am God," is the way our Scriptures put it. Be still, and in the stillness, we come to know that there is somebody else far greater who is at work, who won't drop the ball on the things that we are doing. We can trust Him and in that stillness and being aware of the trust we have in an Almighty God, we can come back refreshed, renewed and invigorated to carry on the work that we are called to do.
Down times! I wonder whether you have them. And if you don't, I wonder whether today is the day to think seriously about it and do something about it. My prayer is that God would help each one of us to see how we can make that happen amidst the busyness of our lives.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God. You have created us in this way, that in the midst of all the busyness, You want us also to take time out and to be still and know that you are God. Help us to put those moments into today. And as we do it, help us to find out how wonderful it is to be able, in those times of reflection, to understand that an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God is in charge of our lives and draw strength and courage from it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
• M. S, Dhoni's catch: http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/239332-cricket-world-cup-soumya-sarkar-s-catch-was-a-fluke-but-important-says-ms-dhoni
• Francesco Gino & Bradley Staats, "The Remedy for Unproductive Busyness." https://hbr.org/2015/04/the-remedy-for-unproductive-busyness
• "Handel's Hallelujah Chorus," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c
• Andrew Simon, "Unproductive Busyness." http://www.yellowedge.com.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Issue-36-Unproductive-Busyness.pdf
• Tim Kreider, "The 'Busy' Trap" http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/?_r=0
• Confucious quote: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/686473-learning-without-reflection-is-a-waste-reflection-without-learning-is
• Bible quote: Psalm 46:10
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