Today I was at the RSA in London to listen to Simon Sinek speak, I love his stuff and have been massively inspired by his ‘Start With Why’ and ‘Leaders eat last’ books.
He spoke about how we all have a responsibility to change and help the failed generation, especially the millennials and how we need more empathy in society, something that I blog about regularly. The need to deal with our addictive society, especially our smartphones.
We feel the need to have them with us constantly and especially many derive their worthiness from their superficial connections to ‘friends’ via the devices.
Who is going to put them down and stop looking at them? We will wait for ‘them’ to do it first.
Since reading the brilliant ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport, I have switched off every single notification on my phone and removed many Apps that were simply a non-productive, meaningless distraction. Over 4 weeks now and nothing bad has happened, in fact, the opposite, I am more productive, happier and still connected to the people who matter in my life. More connected to the people who I cherish the most.
In fact, I used to charge my phone twice a day, now a single charge lasts all day!!
We live in a world where most are waiting for ‘them’ to fix all the challenges, problems or lead us. To be the first to act.
The people who are leading us are a reflection and manifestation of the world that we all live in.
We get the leaders we collectively deserve. If we all want instant fixes and instant gratification, how can we expect our leaders to think long-term? If we skip listening to others as we check who’s just liked the picture we posted of our cat, then can we expect others to listen?
What if instead of blaming ‘them’, we became accountable for what we do?
We can either spend a lifetime waiting for ‘them’ or we could spend a lifetime becoming the thing that we want and inspiring others to follow. If everyone took that approach change would happen and rapidly. It is no good waiting for ‘them’ as they just might not get it or ever change.
Philip Dodson 