We multi-task as though it were going out of fashion, barely taking the time to take the kids to play at the park without our smartphones firmly attached to our wrist.

We document our kids’ every action at the park on Instagram but forget to actually be present to enjoy the moment. Yes your honour, I am guilty of just that.

Time has become a precious and scarce commodity, one we try to harness. We usually tend to equate time with productivity and money, especially if you sell time for a living.

I find it sad that we forget to set aside time for ourselves to just be and importantly, to spend with those that we love.

But the truth is that we need time to make money. We need time to create. We need time to build. We need time to love, play, dream and plan.

It is therefore inevitable that we are so preoccupied wasting our time worrying about not having enough time that we don’t know where to start.

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” —Dr. Seuss

Social networking without purpose?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big proponent of social media. I see its value, but more and more I do believe that it should be used with purpose.

A while ago I went on a digital diet. Unfollowing, unsubscribing, unliking and deleting some old posts.

Some argued that I may have messed up my “Klout-score” in the process. But it was not and still is not about the numbers of followers or likes or comments. Honestly, who really cares?

I simply realigned my interests to forge deeper and more meaningful relationships for the particular season I  found myself in. Seriously, it was not you, it was me.

I found that in doing so my usage patterns changed. I’m less attached to Twitter, unless I’m looking for news. Sharing linkbait on Facebook has decreased drastically – and I would suggest you block those sites too – it opens up your timeline tremendously. And I’m much more selective of who I connect with on LinkedIn.

Foursquare used to be fun and a way to document my travels, but it has become a pain to use. The move of splitting the app between Foursquare proper and Swarm is somewhat cumbersome and confusing. The jury is out but I wonder if Foursquare will follow in the same footsteps of Gowalla (but then Facebook had something to do with that).

Yes, I do still post pictures of what I had for dinner, but usually it accompanies a link to the recipe on our food blog, so you can make it too.

While our interconnected world has so  many benefits it also distorts that importance to being on call 24/7/365.

This is where we can lose sight of what we need to be most engaged with— ourselves, our work and the people in our lives who are important to us.

What I noticed the most after the digital diet was how much more time I had available, how much more opportunity I had to actually think, be creative and work on what I wanted.

I would suggest revisiting the diet every so often. We’re only human and tend to fall back in the same spiral if we don’t discipline ourselves to stay on point.

Looking at my feeds, it is time to get selective again. 

Thank the Greeks

The Greeks have two words for time: chronos and kairos.

Chronos is the time our society is obsessed with— the quantity of time, what is happening next, how soon and how we control it.

Kairos, on the other hand, is defined as the right moment and how best we use it to accomplish something, it is indicative of the quality of that time.

Ever notice what happens when you start an exciting project or hobby? Somehow, no matter how “busy” your schedule, you miraculously find the energy and time to spend on that project or to engage in that activity. We make time for what we want to.

Make it fun

My two kids are particularly vocal in their display of resistance when it comes to being asked to do something they don’t like or not that interested in.

Like picking up the toys strewn around the house or getting into a bath when they’re hell bent on eeking out a few more minutes of play time.

Trying to be stern and strict does not always work – it’s backfired too many times for it to be a sound strategy. It often creates even more unhappiness and can quickly spiral out of control.

My wife mentioned to me that I have an uncanny ability to approach these situations in a fun way. Often clown-like and nonsensical, making up songs on the spot or setting fun challenges that seem more like play – the kids tend to forget their pouting and jump right in, getting the task done with an infectious laughter and a bathroom floor soaked with water.

Ted Cunningham says in his book, Fun Loving You!:

We need to laugh in the midst of the grind. The grind may be one reason why the average child laughs some four hundred times per day compared to the average adult laughing only fifteen times a day. If we let it, the grind can rob us of our sense of humor.

While my colleagues may think I’m somewhat crazy, translating that fun element into the workplace has often diffused many a potential heated moment. There’s always a funny YouTube clip on hand, ready to get us smiling again.

As Milton Berle said, laughter is an instant vacation.

Take time out

One of the most important things you can do is take time out. Time for yourself to regroup, refresh, renew. As I write this I’m lying beside a pool overlooking the Indian ocean in Mauritius, sharing a meal with the local wildlife.

I had just short of 12 hours of uninterrupted motionless sleep (according to my Samsung Gear – about that later) and a hearty but healthy breakfast. The reviving heat of the sun, the white noise created by the crashing waves in the background and the leaves of the palm trees swaying in the wind is pure bliss. I feel like a new person.

Tomorrow I will be on point, ready for the week and supporting our firm to  unlock their potential for growth and mine as well.

So, embrace the pace. Especially if it means slowing down to switch off all  distractions and be present to enjoy the people and things around you.

Now if only I could have my family with me to experience and share all this, this picture would be complete.

“Time is on my side” — The Rolling Stones

The post Embrace the pace – sometimes you have to slow down appeared first on Aquila Online.

The only way for me to know if this was real was to yell and get up to get distance between my perceived assailants and me. Now if ever you were into adventure sports and adrenaline is your thing, screaming and actually hearing your voice with the realisation that this situation was real makes for a rush like no other.

I guess I watched too many episodes of Alias, 24 and CSI because what happened next would probably make for an interesting action sequence in a movie or TV series.

My sudden movement and subsequent scream, alarmed the two attackers who reacted by attempting to pin me to the bed. In true Jean Claude van Damme style I kicked and punched like a prizefighter. In the scuffle that ensued, I managed to get up from my bed and flog off the two to get out the bedroom.

At the kitchen area I realised that all the doors were still locked and the knives were just too far away, so the next best thing was to grab a barstool. Under normal situations a barstool is not the lightest thing to pick up to defend yourself with, but with the strength of Samson, the stool became a bat, and an effective one no less.

The attackers came after me and got slightly more than they bargained for in the pitch-black dark house. Barstool flying through the air like I was Pollock on strike I knocked the beanie straight off the guy’s head. The other got a bash against the arm and shoulder, which disabled them long enough to get past back to the bedroom to jump out the window.

Yanking the curtain away, and to my surprise, a third attacker was trying to get through the window, obviously on his way to aid his buddies. Bad move for him. Still with barstool in hand, I knocked him on his chest so he fell backwards out the window and down the grassy slope.

With nothing to defend myself with, I picked up another chair from my patio, which promptly found the back of the third guy who eventually came after me. He bailed, just as the other two jumped out the window.

Things got a bit tricky when the one guy fired his weapon into the air. Now I’m not much of a betting man, but I wasn’t going to stick around to find out what would happen next. I bailed, still with patio chair in hand, towards the security booth to wake up the security guards who were peacefully unaware of what was happening.

Within 30 seconds of radioing for response, the armed security company arrived and approximately 3 minutes later followed by the police. The attackers unfortunately got away with some items, but thank goodness my life still intact. The rest of the complex came to investigate, who were woken up the commotion, the shot and the deafening silence that followed.

While the police were taking down my statement, the one officer noticed some blood seeping through my shirt. As I lifted my shirt to check, I heard some gasps from the people standing around. I never knew it, but it turns out that I was stabbed 7 times during the scuffle with my assailants (pictures below). The adrenaline pumping through my veins barred me from feeling anything during the ordeal. The police officers immediately called an ambulance service on the assumption that two of my wounds looked suspiciously like a bullet’s entry and exit points. Fortunately for me it was not a gunshot wound.

An antitetanus injection, 16 stitches, 2 x-rays and a couple of bruises later I was discharged from hospital, thanking God that I’m still alive.

Oh, I failed to mention one thing – though the whole ordeal I was starkers. Since it was quite hot that evening and not being a man to restrict his crown jewels in boxers all night, yours truly was sleeping in the buff. Now that might have been the reason why the attackers got a fright in the first place, or the reason why the female population of our complex is beating down my door to see if everything is okay. Either way, seeing a naked white guy running around the complex, covered in blood and still wielding a patio chair is apparently a sight to behold. Note to self, wear boxers next time to bed.

I’ve gone to a few sessions of trauma counselling, just to keep the mind in check, but otherwise the prognosis is that I’m going to be fine. Thanks for everyone’s support and get-well messages thus far.

For the Jo’blog guys the photographic evidence is here.

The post They Came, They Saw, I Kicked Some Ass appeared first on Aquila Online.

Recently something called The Global PR Blog Week was held, aiming to engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event was held between 12 – 16 July 2004. Although very interesting, albeit just in my personal capacity, it remains to be seen if ‘blogging’ will catch on amongst our local PR professionals.

Speaking of which, go have a look at Brian Berkman’s blog for some interesting perspectives and thoughts on the PR scene in SA. According to Brian’s press release on Louise Marsland’s Biz-Community his blog is a first for South African PR professionals. Would this place mine in close second place?

Then also, read “Give me a break” for an interesting view on the topic by Dee Rambeau.

The post Communicators communicating appeared first on Aquila Online.