Jun
13
2013
Slow, Slow, Quick!Quick! Slow - Do you suffer from Hurry Sickness?
By Gill Dandy.
‘What do you think?’
According to Jeff Immelt, the chairman and chief executive of General Electric, these are the four most important words in business.
My problem though is not so much ‘what do I think’ as when do I have time to think?
If you suffer from Hurry Sickness (I think I might have a few of the symptoms…) you are likely to find it hard to stand back and think because you are too busy getting caught up in the ‘I've got to do everything’ trap.
Hurry Sickness was highlighted in a fascinating article in Management Today which caught my eye a few months back - here are some of the symptoms:
- if you are microwaving something for 30 seconds you have to do something else while waiting for the timer to go ping
- you eat at your desk while checking your email and are often on the phone at the same time
- you get a buzz for just catching a plane or a train
- you do something else while you drive (talk on the phone, listen to the radio, eat your breakfast)
- you hate the time it takes to boot up your computer so much that you never turn it off
- you do something else while brushing your teeth
- you turn on your smartphone as soon as your plane lands – before you are meant to – and get stressed out by how long it takes to get a signal
- you find yourself consistently getting frustrated while waiting in a queue or in traffic
- you regularly interrupt the person with whom you are talking
- you do something else on telephone conferences
- you repeatedly press the ‘door close’ button as soon as you get into the lift
So, how do you fair? Yes, it’s just a bit of fun but it does highlight a serious issue. If we don’t make time and space in our busy lives to think, to plan and to develop our people, or ourselves, we are in danger of not making time for the important things in life and work.
If you are suffering from Hurry Sickness the Centre's time management courses can help. There are two courses for you to choose from – Time management for administrators and Time management for managers.
I think the welsh poet W H Davies got it right when he wrote, in his poem entitled Leisure:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
So take your foot off the accelerator once in a while and spend some time living life in the slow lane.
Must dash…bye.
Gill Dandy is a communications professional with 25 years consultancy and in-house experience in the public relations industry. She was a Board Director with Shandwick Communications working with consumer, corporate, business-to-business and charity clients before moving into the not-for-profit sector.