CREEDE HINSHAW: Squeezing every minute is counterproductive

Uninvited, the headline came across my computer: “Ten Top Performers Reveal how They Squeeze the Most out of Every Day.” I hope the reporter will have a follow-up survey with these eager beavers in 10-15 years.

I’m done with squeezing the most out of every day. The more you squeeze, the less you get. Eventually, those who squeeze too hard and too long will discover that the squeeze has been put on them. You can succeed at higher efficiency and greater productivity for a while, but long term, results will disappoint.

The headline may have been aimed at young adults trying to establish themselves, raise children, maintain a house, build a business or advance in a career. I can remember those days and, although there was a certain necessity about them, it wasn’t especially pleasant to juggle the tasks simultaneously. I can get tired just remembering the frenetic pace of that stage of life.

The last thing most of us need is to become more efficient, work smarter, multi-task or take a power-nap. There is something about being less efficient and achieving more modest goals that is one of the keys to a healthier, happier, more enriching life. I might add that this approach can even lead to greater productivity.

Every morning, I try to read at least one poem, a somewhat counter-cultural goal that forces a person to slow down a bit. Reading and appreciating poetry isn’t one of my favorite activities, but I’ve found that if I read a poem slowly, I often receive a gift.

Recently, I’ve been reading farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry, and the poem I read today, “The Silence,” begins by asking, “What must a man do to be at home in the world?” It’s an excellent question, one that Berry answers by suggesting that “beyond the weariness of engines and of his own heart” a person becomes comfortable with self and world in the act of listening and silence.

Berry believes the meditative moments and periods of life can lead a person to accept his or her place in God’s world, accept self and others, and receive life in abundance and depth.

Slowing down is nowhere more vital than during the Advent/Christmas season when even retired people try to squeeze a few more tasks into the increasingly shrinking number of daylight hours.

This church season called Advent encourages reflection and contemplation. Peace will not come to those squeezing the last nanosecond of efficiency from every minute. Attention to a daily time of prayer and reflection, to listening to others from the heart, and listening to one’s own heart can point a person toward being at home in the world.

Such is the joyful task of Advent. Life in these days is more about meditating and musing on the mystery of God’s presence and the coming gift of a Savior. Berry concludes “The Silence” by predicting this result for the person engaged in watchful, attentive listening: “What songs he (and she) will hear!”

Email columnist Creede Hinshaw, a retired Methodist minister, at [email protected].