It’s a sad state of affairs. With our hurried lifestyles, we don’t have time to read books any more. Sure, we read blog posts, articles, and other tidbits of digital media, but it’s not the same.

Okay, so we might read books that serve our professional development. But they aren’t designed to challenge you. They’re designed to be consumed and digested during our commute or a single plane trip—this is especially so for most business books.

Now we read to complete the book, as if finishing a book or article is an end in itself. It’s not. Reading is a skill that advances an understanding of yourself and the world around you, challenging you and fostering your growth.

For reading to accomplish these vital tasks, you have to radically alter how you perceive and approach reading. Here are a few guidelines to help transform your experience with books:

1) Seek out books that will challenge your understanding about human nature. An excellent place to start is ancient Greek philosophy with the works of Plato and Aristotle. Even if you’re not interested in philosophy per se, the ancient Greeks set the foundation upon which Western civilization is based, informing virtually every field of study including law, politics, health, psychology, and natural and social sciences.

2) Instead of reading to complete a book, seek answers to specific questions. This will give your reading more purpose and focus.

3) When reading difficult books, first try to understand the author’s central message. Then open an inner dialogue with the author, comparing and critiquing the work based on what you believe (or know) to be true. In reading the Great Books of the Western World, for example, you’re reading a historical progression of ideas. To witness the development of the understanding and challenges man has faced, read with an open mind and appreciate the context of the author’s time period as best as you can.

4) Make reading a priority. Most people claim they don’t have time to read books anymore. If you don’t consciously carve out time blocks for daily reading, who’s responsible for this lack of time? Left unchecked, life’s busyness will rob you of the joys and benefits of serious reading.

5) Highlight and mark up challenging books, taking notes, capturing ideas as you read. If your purpose in reading is to deepen your knowledge and understanding, you need to approach book reading in a more serious, active way.

As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, Adler’s How to Read a Book is an excellent guide to learn the art of reading.

The digital current is powerful. It can sweep you up and take you on a meaningless journey filled with a barrage of information that never enhances your understanding or wisdom.

I’m not suggesting that you escape and hide from technology or the internet; the digital wave has its place in modern life. But you don’t always have to ride the wave. You can choose to let a few waves pass you by.

Instead, swim out to calmer waters, past the digital mayhem, sit, and be still. Let nature’s current guide you. Listen carefully to the silence. You can learn more from this primordial silence than you’ll ever learn mindlessly racing around in the digital world.

Then, when you’re more centered and wise, ride the next wave—if you choose.

If you engage with technology from a grounded perspective, your experience of the digital wave will be radically different. The wave won’t have such a strong hold on you. You will no longer be pulled in the direction of the current, unable to make effective, meaningful decisions.

Now, you’ll ride the wave with a sense of nonattachment, engaged with the wave, but not at the effect of the wave. Herein lies your freedom, as David R. Hawkins says, to be in the world, but not of it.

In explaining the importance and emphasis of sitting still in the Zen tradition, Allan Watts observes, “Although the West has its own contemplative tradition in the Catholic Church, the life of ‘sitting and looking’ has lost its appeal, for no religion is valued which does not ‘improve the world,’ and it is hard to see how the world can be improved by keeping still.”

But there’s an inherent flaw in this pervasive belief system as Watts points out: “It should be obvious that action without wisdom, without clear awareness of the world as it really is, can never improve anything.” And sitting still can lead to greater awareness and a heightened understanding of the nature of things.

Wisdom, arising from introspection and personal discovery, is difficult to attain in an age wired for speed and the accumulation of information. Wisdom, like sitting still, is elusive in the digital age. Corporations make decisions based on the short term, often overlooking long-term consequences. Individuals hold ideologies and take actions without first clearly evaluating and apprehending what’s in the common Good of all.

We’ve heard it said that wisdom comes with age. Without conscious intention and effort—without fostering the capacity for sitting still—we grow older but not wiser.

Make a practice of sitting still on a daily basis. Wisdom will ripen through this powerful practice.

The more you try to be creative, the more creativity will elude you. Trying to capture the creative impulse is like grabbing water in your hand—the tighter your hold, the less water you retain.

The human ego has a constant drive to control its environment. Secretly believing that it is the source of the universe, the ego willfully looks to change everything. From the ego’s perspective, it is the source of creative inspiration.

Consciousness and psychological research, however, has demonstrated that the ego actually blocks creative expression. The more humility you possess, the more you are able to get out of your own way. As the ego’s hold is minimized, your creative potential is realized.

Instead of attempting to control the creative process, let go trying to change anything.

As a Student, your job is to explore the problem from every angle. But then, the Wanderer must step in. In the state of the Wanderer, the creative genius surrenders to the problem to something beyond himself and awaits the Muse’s answer.

When confronted with a difficult problem, seek to understand the nature of the problem. But then, simply allow the problem to be there. Your creative output can soar.

Western culture is arguably over-obsessed with goals and achievement in general. So why write a post about the importance of goal setting?

Spiritually-minded people are becoming increasingly turned off by goal setting as it is sometimes perceived as a “materialistic ideal.” Although that’s often true, goal setting can be re-contextualized as a valuable practice for any creative professional.

From my experience as a coach, I’ve found that the elimination or vilification of goal setting creates various internal blocks and inner frustrations. Oftentimes all that is needed is a new perspective on the internal value goal setting can offer.

Here are few reminders about the benefits of setting goals and keeping them in mind:

• Goals help you set the compass, providing direction from a fixed point of observation.
• Goals give you something to measure against.
• Goals can help illuminate your attachments, showing where you’re getting “hooked.”
• Goals provide clarity, which leads to more focused performance.
• Goals help you clarify your values.
• Goals can help you and your team improve your overall performance.
• Goals can provide structure and help protect against external distractions.

Goal setting isn’t just about “achieving” goals; that’s where the Western mindset muddies the water. Whether or not you achieve a goal is often irrelevant.

Your intention, focus, resolve, commitment, and inner decision are what matter most. In fact, you’ll find that your goals tend to manifest effortlessly when you let go of wanting them. That’s right. It seems counterintuitive but our desires and wants actually block the attainment of our goals. How? The energy of desire and its corresponding level of consciousness is a destructive force that aligns us with our animal nature.

What you hold in mind tends to manifest, but only when the conditions—both internal and external—are appropriate.

Enjoy the process of goal setting—it can be a lot of fun. Realize that it is designed to provide insights into your own way of being, not just help you achieve, gain status, or accumulate more things.

Since the time of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich over 70 years ago, desire has been inextricably linked to the attainment of goals. A burning desire, it was said, is the key ingredient in the realizing of our dreams and goals. Legions of contemporary personal development trainers have enforced this belief system.

Psychiatrist David R. Hawkins’ consciousness research illuminates the truth about desire. Desire, according to research, is only useful for the unmotivated, apathetic person who lacks the necessary energy within him to take action.

The reality is that most people pursuing goals, personal development, and self-growth—the higher needs on Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs—are already self-motivated.

For us, desire actually tends to block the manifestation of our goals. Why? Desire represents a destructive level of consciousness governed by a weak energy field. Think about what a truly starving person is willing to do to get food. Animalistic urges and primal programming run desire. These impulses don’t bring out the best in the human condition.

We need not feel guilty about having desires—they are innate to our humanness. Harnessing the energy of desire for the attainment of our goals, however, is counter-productive.

We all have had the experience of really wanting/desiring something, but giving up on it, only to see it materialize in our lives. The job or the relationship we wanted presented itself when we let go of the desire for it. And this is key: Identify what you want, but then let go wanting it. It may sound paradoxical, but try it and see what happens.

Here are a few things you can do to help transcend desire:

1. Let go of wanting what you desire by realizing that you’re okay if you have it and okay if you don’t.
2. Release your resistances around desire itself. A book like Patricia Carrington’s The Power of Letting Go can be a helpful guide.
3. Come from a place of gratitude for what you have now. The energy of desire masks gratitude so we forget that we are complete and total at every moment.
4. Instead of vilifying desire, identify and accept its presence as part of ancient programming. With total acceptance, you’ll find that you won’t be run by it anymore and will naturally begin to let it go.

You don’t need desire to attain goals or realize inner growth. Simply set your intention on what’s important to you and get out of your own way.

A few months ago we discussed the importance of adopting a coaching style of management in the workplace. Now, let’s look at how an effective coach would offer feedback in the office.

Feedback is continuous and in the moment. A good coach understands that the most effective feedback is given right or near the time the issue requiring feedback is raised.

Feedback is honest and conversational. A good coach doesn’t talk down to his players; but he is real with them (this means no office politics and no backhanded comments).

Feedback is inquisitive instead of forceful. A good coach empowers the team members with self-directed questions. He guides with questions instead of instructs through demands. He looks to have team members take ownership for their own work.

Feedback is specific, not general. A coach offers specific feedback with clear action steps directed toward achieving an objective or increasing performance. The team’s ultimate vision is what fuels the feedback, not a drive for personal gain or power over others.

Feedback is descriptive, not critical. Simply put, critical and judgmental comments destroy performance as it demotivates people. Effective feedback is highly descriptive and objectively points to ways of improvement.

Feedback is mainly focused on building strengths instead of highlighting weaknesses. If your feedback is always focused around the person’s weaknesses, it’s going to frustrate both of you. A good coach knows how to work around certain weaknesses and capitalize on the player’s best qualities and attributes that ultimately serve the team.

Finally, a good coach is always available and listens to his players. He owns his own feedback. Yes, you can ask for feedback on your feedback. If your players trust you, they will feel comfortable giving you honest comments upon your request.

Feedback shouldn’t be about a report or pay raise. Players listen to good coaches not because they are authority figures but because they respect their coach and know that the coach has the players’ and the team’s best interest in mind. If you genuinely care and want to support your teammates as well as your business, your feedback will be welcomed and received.

All effective communication comes from the heart. If, however, you feel “heart” has no place in the work place, you’ll find your feedback falling on deaf ears. Business may be business, but people are still people. When people know you genuinely care, they generally listen. Follow these principles and watch your team’s performance soar.

With no delay:

1) Find Meaning: Find an empowering meaning for your life. Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning and developer of logotherapy, explains that meaning is a primary driving force behind what we do. Meaning can help you get through even the toughest of circumstances.

2) Breathe Consciously: When challenges arise, we tend to tighten up our bodies and our breathing becomes shallow. Consciously breathe deeply, inflating your stomach, not your chest. By fully oxygenating your lungs, you’ll have more energy to think clearly and manage your emotions more effectively.

3) Grieve When Necessary: Give yourself permission to grieve. Sometimes knowing that “this too shall pass” does not provide enough emotional nourishment in the moment. If you allow yourself to grieve, you’ll let the grief up into your conscious mind and then let it go.

4) Smile Often: It’s okay to smile during shaky times. In fact, smiling is essential; it alters your emotional response to the environment and positively infects those around you. You can always give the gift of a smile.

5) Create Value: Our society is built on human ingenuity and the constant creation of value. In shaky times, focus on what you can contribute; focus on building something bigger than yourself. Giving can be a fantastic remedy for overcoming tough life challenges.

6) Embrace Today: Learn to fully embrace the beauties of each and every day. In The Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino provides a valuable mantra: “I will live this day as if it is my last.”

7) Go on a Media Fast: Carefully monitor what you feed your mind— with Internet, TV, radio, newspapers and conversations. Remove negative influences that poison your mind. Create an environment that invigorates your body, mind, and spirit.

8.) Manage your Emotions: You can never control the event, but you can always manage your reaction to the event. You have the power of decision. Which emotions do you want to energize during difficult times?

9) Live Gratitude: Learn to live gratitude everyday. Ask yourself, What can I be grateful for right now? Feel gratitude for everything you currently have in your life—including existence itself.

10) Move On: The only constant in the universe is change. Instead of living in the pain of the past, allow the pain to be there and then let it go. Focus on what you want, not what’s wrong. Adopt the trait of adaptability, embrace change and move on.

Upon observation, we realize that simultaneously doing two tasks that require mental effort reduces the brainpower available for either task. But most of us rarely do two things at once; we do three to five things at once.

We respond to text messages in the middle of a conversation. We answer emails while we’re on the phone. We finish reading articles while we’re working on a document. We check the weather and traffic, sip our coffee, change the radio station, talk on our cell phone, and change lanes at the same time.

We are conditioned to multitask and, as such, destined for fragmented attention and reduced performance.

Multitasking is today’s default. Focusing on one task at a time has become a lost discipline in the digital age. Our minds convince us that if we do more things at one time, we get more accomplished. Theoretically, this makes sense; in practice, however, it’s simply not true.

As systems theory points out, the system with the most amount of diversity has the least amount of energy. Similar to how water pressure is weakened when it’s funneled into multiple outlets like in a showerhead, fragmenting your attention into different channels simultaneously reduces your capacity to think clearly, focus intensely, deduce creatively, and act effectively.

The solution is obvious: Do one thing at a time. Understand, however, that this is not natural for most of us—especially in a wired world. Mental practice and training is required. We must set our intention on focusing on the task at hand and then mindfully move throughout our day, making course corrections and adjustments when we default back to “multitask mode.”

To assist in this effort, block off time for specific tasks and stay consciously aware of your focus during these time blocks. For example, schedule 15-minute blocks for emailing. Focus on your email correspondence in that brief period, but then close your email program when you reach the end of your time block. (Keeping your email program perpetually open is the surest way of reducing your productivity.) The same goes for text messaging.

Remember: If every form of communication is urgent, then nothing is urgent. Select whom you’re going to text with carefully and make sure they know you only use text messaging for genuinely urgent communication.

If you don’t consciously create a hierarchy of urgency in your communication systems, the world will demand urgent responses on all levels. The only way out of this cycle is to consciously structure your communication systems and mindfully watch where you spend your time.

In the beginning, the above process can feel daunting. It may also seem that more time is spent organizing and scheduling your time rather than on actual work. That’s good. It’s an upfront investment that pays long-term dividends on your available time, productivity, and overall quality of life. Try it and see for yourself.

Many of the world’s great inventions were created with the intention of saving us time. Cars get us to our destinations faster than a horse and buggy. Email messages are received faster than snail mail.

But what do humans do with more time? They fill it up with more activities—more work, more events—more demands on their time. Air travel made it possible to cross vast distances in a short period of time. Now, we work on our way to the airport, in the airport, and on the plane. Although we can work globally, we have less time, not more.

Few of us leverage modern invention to establish more quality time with our loved ones and ourselves. Few spend more time in contemplation and reflection, or wandering and incubating ideas.

In fact, most people experience less free time and more demands each year. Instead of just checking our emails and voicemails like we did only a few years back, now we check our daily texts, social networks, RSS feeds, IMs, and a host of other technologies that are supposed to improve our lives in some way.

I’m not suggesting that these technologies are “bad.” In fact, as BJ Bueno noted in Why We Talk, the social media phenomenon serves our biological drive to communicate.

I am suggesting, however, that left unchecked, the human mind coupled with technologies will keep you busier and more restless. Each new technology and communication medium will likely increase your neurotic tendencies and throw you further off balance. (If you don’t believe me, try completely unplugging from the world for a few days and report back on how you do.)

We’ll become more and more off-centered until we learn to tame our minds, to be able to nurture healthy perspectives, and simplify and/or scale back when appropriate. We must take great care as we move further into the digital age where entertainment and communication dominate our lives.

What can we do? Here are a few things I’ve found to be helpful:

1. Become the watcher—notice the inner drive to continually stay active and to get ahead. (Do nothing about it; just watch and notice it. Awareness alone has therapeutic value.)
2. Learn to unplug periodically. Go offline for a few days and enjoy life without technology.
3. Allow yourself to just be; allow the world to be as it is too. Don’t fight or resist the fast pace of change. Just allow it to unfold as it will.
4. Learn how to master the creation of time blocks. Craving out time blocks help you shut out distractions and focus on what’s important to you.

Happy Journeys!