So now what?

I bet you’ve been there… how do you feel about it?  Is it just the way it is?  Or, might we benefit from a bit of improvement?  I’ll pause so you can check that IM… All set?  OK, Here goes… 

In general, I hate being connected, which I associate with being either interrupted or confused, not being in touch. 

Geoffrey A. Moore 

My wife recently returned from a two-day sewing conference that combined training, hands-on work, and lectures.  It also highlighted attendees “being connected”… When telling me about her event she said something about appreciating the interest I was expressing.  She seemed surprised because: 

My wife says I only have two faults.  I don't listen and something else. 

                   Unknown Sage 

I was listening now… She said the hands-on sessions worked great because each attendee had their own workspace for applying the techniques from the training.  She wasn’t interrupted by other people’s interruptions. 

Hands-on is an effective approach for almost any endeavor, true?  Unfortunately, when I probed further what stood out for my wife was all of the interruptions during the training and lectures.  We have all been “there”.  But do we contribute to “there” ourselves?  Me included?  Oops…just a minute… 

OK I’m back.  A robo-call from my dry cleaner’s point-of-sale system reminding me that my clothes are ready…  now where was I?  Oh yes, I was saying we all have been impacted by those irritating little interruptions from our various electronic devices; often in the presence of others… I’m sorry, one sec please… 

My smart watch was reminding me to take my medication.  I wear it 24-hours a day to track my sleep.  It thinks I forgot to take my meds last night… Anyway, I totally agree with you: 

One wonders how we could survive without voices in our cars that keep reminding us that the door is open even when we want the door open to get some fresh air… 

Norman R. Augustine

Getting back to those interruptions, my wife said that during every training and lecture session several members of the audience were on their phones.  (You and I would never do that LOL!)  One lady had a loud jingle set for her incoming calls.  You know what’s next… yep, right in the middle of a lecture her phone goes off.  The device was buried in her oversized handbag so it took what seemed like forever to find it and end the jingle.  At least she didn’t answer the call HaHa!  She also didn’t set her phone to vibrate and another call (with more jingling) came in just moments after the first.  Is that your phone I hear in the background?  I’ll wait… 

Everything OK?... Back to my wife’s event.  The presenters didn’t say anything during those constant interruptions; didn’t ask people put their phones on silent; just ignored it.  Then my wife noticed one of the presenters herself was constantly glancing down at her smart watch – everyone knew she was scanning her emails during the middle of her presentation. 

So now what? 

Wi-Fi went down for five minutes so I had to talk to my family.  They seem like nice people. 

              Unknown Sage 

I wonder if the pandemic caused people’s behavior of multi-tasking across multiple devices in virtual environments to become permanent.  Now that we’re retuning to in-person gatherings, can we break those habits?  

Well, that’s all I have for today… I’ll let you get back to your in-box.  Thanks! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.