Precipitating Thoughts

The cloud of unknowing

Research – a blue sky

Needs time for precipitation

To clear out the fuzzy grays

I wrote this short phrase back in January 2013, back when I was working for the law firm. I was seven months into my job and have already looked at over 20 industries in Myanmar, in addition to the marketing and business development work. I enjoyed learning, working on new and challenging projects but having to complete the research work with little or no guidance and short turn-around times felt like I was working my mind/brains like a factory - churning out pieces of information without properly analyzing what I was mentally consuming. I was reading and rephrasing facts, figures about Myanmar businesses everyday but didn't have the time to make the connections between the various bits and pieces of information I gathered, and see the 'bigger picture.'  My mind felt trapped. 

This is in contrast to the mental and intellectual freedom I had at Carleton [or even at the ICT consultancy firm I joined after college], where I could take a reading or a case, interpret it through different academic frameworks, have discussions with my classmates and professors in class and later think about these issues over long walks along the Cannon river after dinner.

The fact is, we consume information everyday and it builds up in our mental systems. Unless enough time is given to let the information 'settle,' the information will pile up and clog our mental processes/thinking. Just like the sky needs time to precipitate the rain clouds, clearing out the grays to [reveal] the azure blue sky, our minds need 'down-time' to stay fresh and alert. 

INSEAD professor, Manfred Kats De Vries wrote about the "Importance of Doing Nothing," arguing that the brain needs to slow down in order to incubate creative thought, reflection and to prevent psychological burnout. In fact, meditation - the act of seeking clarity through avoidance of thoughts - has become a big movement among the corporate world in the recent times [months/years, I do not know]. 

However, it becomes harder to precipitate our thoughts through [not-thinking] when our generation turns to social media as an outlet for mental escape reflexively [where online information is readily available at the click of a button or the tap of a finger]. 

Clouds at Dusk, Singapore. June 2014

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Citation:

Manfred Kats De Vries, June 2014. "The Importance of Doing Nothing." Web:http://knowledge.insead.edu/talent-management/the-importance-of-doing-nothing-3422