Turning the Volume Down

The Square Mile

 

Yesterday I took a walk through the City of London after perhaps a few years of being in Hong Kong. I went from Moorgate station, through Bank, to London Bridge where I used to work. I passed the Bank of England, and various other prominent financial institutions. I’d walked the same path hundreds of times, over many years, but this time it was very different. I recalled being at University and the reality of getting a job hitting home and being very disappointed that University life would end and I would need to enter a place that so many people complained about. A monotonous routine, horrendous rush hour commutes, bad bosses, and many more factors that played into stressful years in the City that accumulate to leave you less fit, fried out, but keeping holding on financially, with perhaps a few nice holidays and a supported family. Everyone is in the same game. What was the difference between my walk through the Square Mile in London 8 years ago, as opposed to now? Well, I have worked somewhere else for a substantial chunk of time, done things I hadn’t done before and wasn’t planning to do which take a substantial engagement of time and energy. Those are big factors; what you prioritise in life, will be the source of pleasure or distress.

 

 

The Volume

 

I’ve got into a routine of watching the UFC Mixed Martial Arts events on TV every two weeks or so. They’re usually in the US on Saturday nights, meaning they’re aired in Hong Kong on Sunday mornings. It’s a nice time to tune in as Sunday morning is typically a time for rest. There are so many fights on the fight card typically, and sometimes it takes hours and hours to reach the main fight, sometimes the entire morning and past lunch time. So after watching a few times like this with my undivided attention, I thought I could be doing other things at the same time, or tune in and out of fights whilst sorting things out in the house. Every time I’d tune out to do something else, the commentators would get excited, so I’d rush back to the television, and it would usually turn out to be nothing too exciting, so I’d go back to what I was doing, with a little frustration that I stopped what I did. After this happening many times, I thought about what it was which was making me tune in again. It was the commentary, the hype. So I thought, when am doing something else, let me turn the volume down as this is what’s really attracting me back to the TV, and more than half the time it’s pointless. Ok, I may miss a few good moments in a fight, but I end up completing my other tasks, and then tuning back in for the main fight card with my undivided attention, which am more than happy with on a Sunday morning. I then experimented further. Even on the main fight, there was definitely a correlation between my level of interest, and the volume of the TV. Even in the most exciting of fights, if I turned it down, I noticed I was less interested in what was going to happen. I experimented with the same thing when watching the penalty shootouts in the World Cup recently, for me it had the same effect; I was less ‘affected’ when the volume was down. We are what we put into our heads, and one of those things is sound, vibrations. If we control the things that enter our system, we can control the extent to which we’re affected by things.

 

 

It's all still the same, you don't have to be

 

Did I feel more relaxed walking through London after having spent a solid amount of time in another country? Yes, without a doubt. Why was this so? Nelson Mandela once said, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” The bosses are still mostly around. The hectic rummaging is still there. The transport hasn’t changed much. Almost everything is the same, except I’ve turned the volume down. I have seen a little more now, I’ve done a few more things, and therefore I see those same streets now as a bunch of old buildings with people hustling around doing the same thing they were doing ten years ago, except looking a little older. Previously it was everything to me, to my friends, my colleagues, it was life dominating. You’re surrounded by it, it was the priority. The volume was turned up really high on working at a prestigious place, making money, and showing that you are. Now it’s quite simply not. Does this attitude stop you from engaging effectively with it? Absolutely not. Some of the most competent and inspiring leaders, I can now see, have always had this kind of attitude, and yet they’ve engaged with the corporate world so well and in such a balanced way. Others have not. It’s our choice what we be, how high we put the volume, how much we’re affected, how we treat others, and ultimately we choose what we want our destiny to be by deciding what we feed ourselves with.

 
"For human society, constantly thinking of how to earn money and apply it for sense gratification brings about the destruction of everyone’s interests."

Sanat Kumara to King Prthu, Srimad Bhagavatam 4.22.33

 

The Art of Zooming

As the number of areas one has to manage increase, the need for perspective also increases. The degree to which we can handle multiple important and urgent tasks successfully will have a big effect on our success and the speed of our progression. Handling multiple responsibilities requires discipline, the ability to differentiate, and most importantly the ability to take perspective; the ability to take a step back and zoom in and zoom out regularly. If one takes a deeper and broader perspective in life at large, it is far easier to practice this discipline and manage multiple areas; this is because outside is in, and inside is out; what we do at work has a baring on how we are outside work, and what we do outside of work, has a baring on how we are at work; it is inevitable. So what does taking perspective mean?

The Daily Tsuen Wan line Stampede

As you come off the Tsuen Wan MTR train at Admiralty station, there is a distance of about 20 to 30 meters to the train connecting Hong Kong Island Line train. As the train arrives, this distance separates the commuters from their connecting train. Sometimes, just when the doors open, the opposite trains’ doors are closing and it leaves, without taking the connecting commuters; they were late. More often than not however, there is a small window for commuters to transfer and get on. Knowing of this regular small window, passengers alight in a great rush, sometimes almost like a panic, banging into each other, sometimes even dropping their shopping on the way, and run the 20 to 30 meter distance in order to get onto the soon departing train. Now, before the train arrives, the platform is usually quiet and stable with only the sound of the large TV speakers being heard. As soon as the train arrives, there is mayhem for a few minutes. As soon as the connecting train leaves, it is quiet again. This is on-going for hours. On the Tsuen Wan line, I have never in 5 months waited more than 3 minutes for a train. Yet people, often elderly people are running, pushing others, to get onto the train just incase they need to wait for 3 minutes. There is always a small percentile of people however who wait for everyone to leave, and then walk in peace, and often times still make the train. Perhaps it is understandable if there is a tight meeting, or one is running late, but I wonder how many of the hundreds of people alighting each time, are in such a hurry every time; the importance, and scarcity of perspective.

The Way of the Wise

Sometimes we have so much on our minds that we cannot zoom out in order to select our next task or action. This has many implications, which have varying degrees of severity in the way they damage our route to success. In the best case, a clouded mind will lead to inability to act swiftly. It may lead to a lack of conviction as in our minds we’re still evaluating so many other alternatives, but the time to act has come. And in the worst case, it may lead to us choosing the wrong action. If our mind is clouded, we will find it more difficult to focus. When we lack focus, it may degrade our ability to evaluate situations and activities objectively. When we cannot evaluate objectively, we may choose unwisely. How do we facilitate the process of zooming out and getting perspective? Through remembrance. If we recall a very serious incident in our lives, the fact we often need to make an effort to recall it means that, whilst it may be very significant, its prominence fades over time. Time takes away all things no matter how great they may be, and remembrance of this can help us put things into perspective. As a catalyst to this process of gaining perspective, other people can help. Asking experienced people at work or elsewhere can add great value. Certainly this has been the way of Vedic thought. When King Yuddhistira was banished from the kingdom of Hastinapur unrighteously, often times he and his brothers would speak with great wise sages like Agastya Muni; to get perspective. When the younger brother of Lord Rama, Bharata was in a moral dilemma about what his duty was when his Father passed away and Lord Rama could not be crowned King due to being banished to the forest, he sought the advice of Guru Vasishta Muni; to gain perspective. When Vyasa Muni’s mind was perturbed after completing his authoring of the Mahabharata, he sought the counsel of Guru Narada Muni; to gain perspective. Training our minds and getting the help of our seniors, we can gain perspective.

Ultimately Perspective is Down to Us

Keshava Bharati Goswami said “You may have the greatest Guru in the Universe, but you have to do it yourself.” This is very relevant for us in the workplace and in life also; whilst guidance and the help and advice of so many very experienced and high caliber people may be there, and may be a huge help in our endeavours, ultimately our ability to handle multiple responsibilities well comes down to our own clarity of thought, decisiveness, and regularly taking perspective. Perspective, by its very nature can lead to great level of strategic position and taking advantage of big opportunities, and this is important. The greatest people however, don’t just apply it in the workplace; they apply it in life. This is why you will find the greatest leaders like the Warren Buffet’s, the Bill Gate’s of this world, whilst unparalleled in their success, do things that embody a broader, and deeper meaning. Whilst perspective is a journey and an on-going challenge, like all great things, it all begins with our thoughts.