Work Hard.. by Being Still
What do you mean Tom, are you talking in riddles?
Perhaps, but as Seth put it in a recent blog:
“For most of us, hard work is measured in insight, emotional effort, and connection. It’s been a long time since the economy fairly rewarded people based on brawn alone.”
Today some thoughts on why “Being Still” can be key to “hard work”
see everything and do nothing
First, I am no stranger to traditional hard work. I pushed hard to get good grades, a good degree, and completed my professional qualification then moved out to the Cayman Islands with a “Big 4” firm the day after my 24th birthday. From there I only worked harder and for many years.
One seminal point for me was in the year 2000 when our group of businesses (in which I was what would now be called the Chief Commercial Officer) entered a large joint venture with a foreign partner. I was very much used to doing lots of hard work across our businesses, but one day my boss sat me down to talk about the joint venture. He told me he wanted my role to be to “see everything and do nothing”.
I was momentarily confused, but he explained that as we had structured the JV business such that our partners would manage it day to day, it was key that we did not get involved in the running of the business. Instead, by seeing everything and doing nothing I could pay attention to any perspectives that could be missed by simply being busy “doing”.
This turned out to be a wise decision, as by “seeing everything and doing nothing” I was able to see several major opportunities for that JV business over the years, opportunities I feel I could only truly see by not being super busy “doing”.
be still
Now, whilst it is valuable to “see everything”, we can amplify that by being still.
Being still by quietening our mind so as to be open to new ideas.
Being still by listening deeply to others and to what they have to say rather than listening with the intent to reply with our expert knowledge. You never know, we might even learn something new by listening/
Being still can also sometimes mean that literally, by not moving, staying in one place for an extended period.
An example was when an architect designed a home for me years ago. The first thing he did was to go and sit. He sat down on the raw piece of canal front land at both sunrise and then sunset for several days in a row. Only by doing that did he realise that not only was the view to the canal to the main aspect (which was North) spectacular but also that the view to the West was amazing too. He, therefore, incorporated a special outdoor view and side patio to the west side.
By making the choice to “work hard ..by being still” that architect added greatly to the value of his design, far more so than spending those hours “working hard” in a more traditional sense of hard graft.