The Zen of Business
In The Spirit of Zen, Allan Watts explains that “Zen is an attitude towards life, and as such it believes in using just the right amount of time, energy and material required to achieve a given object—no more and no less.”
An alchemical balance of time, energy, people, thinking and materials is needed to coalesce the “right amount” of resources for each action, project and meeting.
- How much time is spent sitting at your desk without a clear, specific objective in mind?
- How much time is wasted in meetings? In excess chatter and insufficient, constructive dialogue?
- How much energy is expended through uncontrolled emotions, feelings, and thinking throughout the day?
Living a Zen way of business requires a disciplined practice in order to harmonize the delicate blend of yang (actionable and direct) with yin (allowing and nonresisting) energy.
Again from Watts: “The uncontrolled mind uses up its energy over innumerable worries, distractions and wandering ideas instead of giving itself to one thing at a time, and for this reason it never achieves completely what it sets out to do, for the moment it begins on one thing it runs off to others, exhausting itself with a tremendous amount of wasted activity.”
We need not perfect this way of being; for that is not possible. But we can make progress each day with more inquisitive thinking, thoughtful speaking, careful listening, deep connecting, and effective executing. Mastery comes through the humility of consistent daily practice, year after year.
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“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.” –Henry Ford
Few of us were taught how to properly calm our minds and think, at home or at school.
For many, it has become a habit for the mind to “begin on one thing . . [then] run off to others, exhausting itself with a tremendous amount of wasted activity.”
Thanks to your help, I am continuing to practice my focused attention daily.
It is definitely a practice.
Dr. Andrew Colyer