Tuesday, July 21, 2015

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.

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