In avoiding the cost of the hotel cost where the conference was being hosted, I decided to drive. Owning a home within driving distance to the hotel and conference center enabled this decision of exchanging money for time. A little inefficient, but
Why not?
Commute the hour and twenty every day and get to sleep in my own bed? Made total sense compared to $299 per night, not to mention I get to spend the night with my wife.
Commuting required I leave around 5:30am for the early session and would return close to 9pm after the late session. Quite the commute after a full day.
One Morning, while on my way out the door, I noticed the fuel in my vehicle was low. Low enough for me to pay attention. The challenge for an efficient person is finding a gas station on the right side of the road, efficiency, remember? No need to lose efficiency in the inefficient commute. In the hour and a half I spent commuting, I didn’t see any stations located conveniently enough, and being a reasonable adult unwilling to compromise I made the decision to continue.
The conference was excellent, starting early and ending late. Packed with wisdom, insight and action items. Loved every minute. Now to commute back.
In typical efficient fashion, I reach cruising speed, merge into traffic and watch the fuel warning light turn on only to realize I never filled the fuel up and am in heavy traffic on a portion of road with no stations in the near future. Like any reasonably efficient person, I opened up the Miles per Gallon estimator and started watching it without reducing my speed (read: efficiency). The prophecy from fuel estimator told me the fuel was moving faster than the miles I was covering.
…the prophetic word…as I reduced my speed I noticed:
- The miles covered increased with the remaining fuel.
- Stress went down
- Passing traffic was irrelevant
- I began to enjoy
Speed is a Dopamine
As the thoughts of the event flutter through the experience. I have to believe I’m addicted to speed. Gut check. Not really good news. Rushing through the day with the badge of busy builds the dopamine the neuro transmitters use to feel accomplished.
My take away
- Like the race to who can push the end to the zoom call first, Busy is not productive
- Like jumping into the isle of the airplane as soon as the last ding allows you te ready to deplane, Busy is not effective
- Like a microwave on high does not make a great baked potato, Busy does not allow for precision of action or thought
- Like figuring out your nutrition on mile 3 of the half marathon, busy is reactive not proactive
I have not hooked up scientific nodes and wires to get the scientific data proof. I would be curious if this could be proven.
Tell me where I’m wrong.
Chris Parks 