The Monk and the Knowledge Worker
Posted on 14. Mar, 2011 by donal in New Ways to Work
I heard a story recently that is anecdotal for how knowledge workers experience their work life.
A Buddhist monk was speaking about the early years of his training in Thailand. One day, an elderly Thai man came to his hut with word of a waiting visitor. The monk jumped out of meditation, quickly put on his outer robes and hurried off across the monastery compound. As he walked his head filled with thoughts. Who might it be? What might they want? Was there a problem? Why hadn’t he been given more notice?
Mid-way across the compound the old man caught up to him. “You don’t walk like your teacher”, he said.
The monk stopped and asked, “How does my teacher walk”?
“One step at a time”, came the reply.
Similarly, at work, our heads can be so full of things that we’re not able to give ourselves completely to the task at hand. There is so much to juggle, so much to keep track of, so much that’s unclear. There are so many interruptions and distractions. Just like the monk, we could all do with someone or something to help us manage our attention better. Where our attention goes, ‘we’ go. And all too often we’re not giving our best attention to the work that really matters.
It’s vital to have a tool that clearly shows the actions that need to happen for progress to be made in our work commitments – to be able to queue these actions is a systematic way – to have peace of mind knowing that what’s important won’t be forgotten – to feel reassured that information won’t ‘fall between the cracks’.
We’ve built Goshido to be that tool – to help you and your teams succeed. Why not try it today at no cost? See for yourself how it benefits your experience of work.