A recent New York Times article titled Mindfulness: Getting Its Share of Attention struck me with an important message around being able to essentially “turn off the world” for a few minutes. But I found the most profound thought of the article not in the practice of meditation, but in the quote from Thich Nhat Hanh:
“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.”
What’s paradoxical about this is that the modern office environment doesn’t respect peoples’ time. How many of us suffer from arbitrary meeting requests with too many attendees, no agendas, and frankly an utter disregard for the workload of the others in the room by bringing up unrelated pet projects or just by being 10 minutes late?
If the most precious gift you can offer somebody is your attention, then please don’t squander the opportunity for somebody to give you such a gift by disrespecting their time. And if you can’t give somebody your attention, then let them know. That’s much more honest than pretending to pay attention but really being distracted by whatever else is on your screen. You see the only honest resolution here? Short, focused meetings or conversations, and a fully engaged audience. Anything less spirals out in the unproductive workplaces that plague so many businesses today.
I encourage a full read of the article above; there are some other important thoughts about getting more accomplished by paying attention to the few, important things. And I encourage some serious, serious reflection about every meeting or conversation you have, with coworkers, friends, children, and if you are truly generous and giving them a precious gift, or squandering the moment.
The hardest thing is the individual that comes to you and wants your full attention in the moment, but you are focused on something else. You’ve got two alternatives: Totally switch context and focus on them, or explain “I want to give you and this subject my full attention, because you deserve that, so I’m going to make time later today to do exactly that, because at the current moment I’m giving my full attention to a different matter.” I think that’s one of the kindest things you can say and do.
I know it would help my blog to turn some of the quotes here into infographics, and I met with a blogger who does exactly that, but have to check my notes for that tool.