Outskirts City Life

Liked this piece of art, which I am calling Outskirts City Life. 

In the background, under cloudy skies, the tall city buildings–sort of wobbly with all the people and goings-on, which in a way we want to leave behind for some peace and quiet. 

In the foreground is a bridge and park with some sun and trees and people talking, sitting and laying in the grass and a lonesome car driving by.

The colors are vibrant, the shapes are almost like three-dimensional cut-outs making a sort of fairy tale feeling to the whole landscape. 

The picture is overall one where we balance hectic life in the city with the restfulness and tranquility of surrounding nature. 

It’s a life where harmony is made by conscious choice and actions to promote a healthy body and mind amidst what we seek to do and accomplish and all that which we are asked to bear for it. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Teamwork or Telework?

Clive Thompson makes an interesting point in Wired (15 May 2013) on productivity versus creativity.

He says that people seem more creative when interacting with other people in a group, and more productive when left alone to get their work done.

Hence, he advocates for telework to improve individual productivity, but basically only after the team first gets together to figure out what creative things they should be doing.

While I agree that group interchange can be good for bouncing ideas around and sparking innovation, and that with some quiet time, people can plow through a lot of work on their own–this is only a very narrow perspective.

Really, very often, the exact opposite is true….think about it.

When alone, and with some quiet time to think, you may come up with some of your best and most creative ideas. That is because the pressure is off to strut your stuff with the others, the groupthink is gone, and you can concentrate and free associate. Inventors, writers, painters, and other creative types come up with some of the best innovations, when they are left alone to do their thing.

Similarly, when people are in a group, they can often be much more productive than when working alone. Whether in mass producing good as a team in a factory, as team mates in sports passing and scoring, as warfighters waging battle side by side, and even as the construction crew in the picture above putting up a brand new high-rise building–people, when working together, can do amazingly great and productive things.

So yes, while at times groups can spark creativity among each other and quiet time can be good for getting (some paper) work done, often the exact opposite is true–and the group can produce in quantity and quality and the individual can think, experiment, and truly innovate.

Group and individual work is not correlated one for one with creativity and productivity–it all depends on what you are trying to get done.

But either way, you need both telework and teamwork to think and produce. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

What Are You Staring At?

This deer and I had a staring contest this morning, and I lost.

The deer didn’t let me get too close, before he ran off into the woods.

A couple of other deer showed themselves and followed suit.

Early in the morning, it was so quiet and peaceful on the way to grab a cup of coffee at 7-Eleven (their French Vanilla is a delicious favorite).

Thank you G-d for all the greatness that you bestow on us. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

>Revenge of the Introverts

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I am an introvert.

Does this mean I am among a minority of the population that is shy, anti-social, “snooty,” or worse?

Many people have misperceptions like these, which is why Psychology Today’s current issue has a feature story on the realities vs. the myths of introverts. Actually half of the people you meet on any given day are introverts.

According to the story, introverts are:

“Collectors of thoughts…(and) solitude is the place where the collection is curated…to make sense of the present and the future.”

Most of us don’t realize that there are many introverts, because “perceptual biases lead us all to overestimate the number of extraverts among us.” (Basically you extraverts take up a lot of attention 🙂.)

To me, being an introvert is extremely helpful in my professional role because it enables me to accomplish some very important goals:

– I can apply my thinking to large and complex issues. Because I gravitate to working in a quiet (i.e. professional) environment, I am able to focus on studying issues, coming up with solutions, and seeing the impact of incremental improvements. (This will be TMI for some, but when I was a kid I had to study with noise reducing headphones on to get that absolute quiet to concentrate totally.)

– I like to develop meaningful relationships through all types of outreach, but especially when interacting one-on-one with people. As opposed to meaningless cocktail party chatter – “Hello, How are you today?” “Fine. And how are you?” “Fine.” Help, get me out of here!

– I get my energy from introspection and reflecting; therefore, I tend to be alert to areas where I may be making a mistake and I try to correct those early. In short, “I am my own biggest critic.”

So while it may be more fun to be an extrovert—“the life of the party”—and “the party’s going on all the time”—I like being an introvert and spending enough time thinking to make the doing in my life that much more meaningful and rewarding.

[Note: Lest you think that I hold a grudge against extraverts, not at all—you all are some of my best buds and frequently inspire me with your creativity and drive!]