دانلود رایگان مقاله ارزش پنهان زمان خالی و خستگی

One executive running a large organization in the educational field, when asked about the number of e-mails she received each day, responded: ‘‘Five hundred.’’ She then continued in a rather upbeat manner, ‘‘But frankly, I don’t read any of them. If I did, I wouldn’t really be doing my job. My job is to think about the future of education in my country.’’ She added, ‘‘These days, given the work I do, it isn’t a question of obtaining information. The more important question is how to push information away so that I don’t suffer from information overload. I need to have time to think.’’ Once she elaborated on her information strategy, her way of dealing with it turned out to be less dramatic than seemed to be the case. She had an assistant who slogged his way through all her e-mails, and she spent a few hours every week discussing the more problematic ones with him. She realized, however, that she needed plenty of time to reflect. She didn’t want to get caught up in the manic behavior so many executives share, frantically processing e-mail after e-mail. As she said, ‘‘I’m not paid to do that kind of work. If I’m so busy doing what people expect me to do, there will be no time left for what I ought to do. You can’t do creative work at a cyber pace. Creative work has its traditional rhythms. To be creative, you need a more serene state of mind. Over the years I have learned the hard way that technology sometimes encourages people to confuse busyness with effectiveness. I need quiet time to be able to function.’’

MAKING TIME FOR NOTHING TO DO

For reasons of mental health, it is important to make time in our daily life to do nothing–—even be bored–—and indulge in some quiet reflection. For busy people, that idea may seem worthy of only a very hollow laugh. So many of us are so action-oriented, or action-addicted, that time for reflection is no longer part of our make-up. Each day, we are carried away by yet another project, yet another activity, and allow little or no time to stop and look at what is happening to us and the people around us. Yet our compulsive and relentless communication and our obsessive activity may be the emotional and intellectual equivalent of fast food and just as bad for our health. It may seem counterintuitive, but stopping for a while and stepping off the treadmill can actually help us progress more quickly and effectively. Confucius once said, ‘‘Learning without reflection is a waste, reflection without learning is dangerous.’’ There should be nothing laughable in getting away from it all and asking ourselves who we are, where we have come from and where we are going. The answers might reveal that we have been so concerned with an idea of what we ought to be that we have failed to take into account the things that make us who we really are. We may realize that if we just go forward blindly, creating more unintended consequences, in the end we may fail to achieve anything substantial.