Emerson Exchange 365

How often do we catch ourselves or others sneaking a peak at their iPhone, tapping out tweets under the table or, horror-of-horrors, taking a phone call in the middle of a conversation?  OUR conversation – how dare you!  Often I’ve wanted to (and have) lashed out with a ‘hey - stay with me’ reminder to the culprit.  Unfortunately, I am also guilty as charged. 

As I prepare to move into retirement from Emerson later this year, I’ve spent time during the holiday contemplating what kind of New Year’s resolution would be most meaningful in my life.  So many resolutions in the past have come and gone.  You know the usual culprits – exercise more, spend less, lose weight, get organized, eat healthier, spend more time with loved ones.  Some of mine have been more successful (eat healthier) than others (exercise more) so I’m not batting a thousand on this resolution thing.  

Concerning 2017 resolutions, I found myself increasingly drawn to this ‘staying in the moment’ idea.  Many experts reference it as ‘savoring the moment’ and others as ‘mindfulness’.  Several religions and spiritual disciplines focus on the essence of mindfulness.  Regardless of what it’s called or how it’s practiced, I believe it’s a discipline that would serve me well going forward. 

So my 2017 resolution is, To be more in the moment with my family and colleagues.  

My first Emerson ‘be in the moment’ experience was during a 2001 ‘Brief Moment of Joy’ celebration with Jim Berges and the Network Power executive team.  They recently completed a major acquisition that I, as a new Emerson employee and former Emerson competitor, was well acquainted with.  So, I understood the ‘Joy’ piece.  At the time, I found the words ‘Brief Moment’ attached to ‘Joy’ kind of odd, but I let it pass.  Taking the time to celebrate a major business moment was impressive and enough reason for me.    

Over the last several years, I’ve worked with Emerson business units to help reduce their new product development time-to-market by removing waste from engineering and development processes.  Time is the one resource that engineers, scientists and business people have yet to create more of and wish they could.  However, we CAN and ARE learning how to use time more efficiently.  Value stream mapping helps us identify waste and chaotic processes.  Market requirement events help us focus on the must, should and could have market requirements. Visual work management helps keep us focused on the precious to-do’s of TODAY and the near term.  All three tools help aid us in identifying process areas where chunks of wasted time can be freed up for other, hopefully, more productive or meaningful uses.        

I am by nature and nurture an analytical, disciplined, hardworking, multi-tasker.  My husband and grown daughters consider me a to-do list extraordinaire who is passionate (and sometimes much too passionate) about things I care about.  I also wear a 
lot of hats.  A quick mind mapping exercise led me to stop at 16 key ‘hats’.  

These hats often overlap and force me to split my time, to jump back and forth between tasks and to deal with (or so I think) the latest challenges at hand, often simultaneously.  As an engineer and STEM advocate, I know queueing theory, consultant Ron Mascitelli and others teach that multitasking leads to lower productivity and, unchecked, adds more time to a process.   Time, time, time – there it is again, my challenge.

So how can THIS person I’ve described become more ‘in the moment’ when by nature and nurture she’s an accomplished juggler of ‘to do’s’? I’m pretty sure I can’t do it by just wishing and making a resolution on New Year’s Eve.  With or without the champagne and countdowns.

I need some real-life props, aides, tools and maybe even a roadmap to make this happen.  In reading up on mindfulness, there are multiple recommendations on how to live more in the moment.  I have connected with three that suit me and my situation.  I started using them during Kwanzaa, the week between Christmas and New Year, to help me get a jump start on this resolution and I hope to continue these practices into 2017.  They are:

Read more about being in the moment.  There are plenty of articles and mindfulness practitioners out there such as Professor Ellen Langer from Harvard, Dr. Romila Mustaq, Andy Puddicombe and Dr. Beth Cabrera, to name a few.  TED talks, on-line videos, blogs and websites featuring many of these individuals and others are a quick, easy and inexpensive way to get a grasp on living in the moment. I linked to a few of these for your reference. 

Meditate or pray.  Slowing my mind and body down allow me to concentrate on the present.  Distraction is one of my enemies.  Praying, for me, meditating for others, is another way to overcome distraction.  The Lamaze technique is another method.  This training served my husband and me well through three natural, no drug, child births.  I often find myself falling back on it when I feel stressed or on the verge of ‘losing it’ and need to slow it down.  Being ‘in’ nature has always had an effect of pulling me into the moment and slowing me down enough to appreciate my surroundings.  I’m blessed to reside in a nature filled setting, which helps pull me to a slower place.  This allows me to be in the moment - smell the dirt, hear the birds, feel the breeze.  Slow down and be thankful.  When I’m not physically at home with nature – I can close my eyes, breathe deeply and pull on these experiences and techniques to get to a close approximation.  However, each of us needs to find our own ways of ‘settling down’, remove the to-do lists and distractions from our minds and bring us into the present moment and space.

Have physical props.  To help me regain the moment, there are two parts.  First, moderate stretching exercises to remove stress and improve flexibility and second, having a physical prop on my body.  For the latter, that means reviving the habit of wearing and using a plain-old watch.  I dumped this habit 8-9 years ago when my then 18-year-old daughter informed me that watches were so ‘yesterday’ and not trendy.  ‘Use your cell phone instead, Mom’ she said and I listened!  But what I’ve lost is the constant reminder of time and how each moment is precious.  The physical reminder of a simple (read as ‘NOT smart’) watch does that for me.  Regarding the former prop, disciplined stretching a few minutes a day helps to reduce those nagging neck pains that distract me from enjoying more moments.  It’s a discipline I’ve lost over the years and but I know how to revive it and will as part of my resolution.  

Coming back to Jim’s ‘Brief Moment of Joy’ celebration back in 2001 - after about 6 months with Emerson, I realized it is a part of the Emerson culture.  I’ve experienced and led several brief moments of joy in my Emerson career and understand why we do it.  We take time to recognize the accomplishments in our teams and individuals, but don’t let it take over our beings.  My focus in 2017 will be more on the ‘moment’ piece of that phrase, whether I’m in a meeting with customers, on a conference call with the Emerson Women in STEM Council members or chatting one-on-one with a colleague.  Clear my mind, stop the multiplexing, stay in the moment at hand and give that communication activity my 100% attention and thought.  It will hopefully be a more meaningful experience to all involved.   

They say twenty-one days of repetition puts you well on the road to a building a new habit.  We’ll see how that plays in my world.  For those of you who know or work with me – please call me out when you see me slipping ‘out of the moment’ and back into my old ways.  Email or text me words of encouragement occasionally.  That will be a great reminder and motivator to help me stick to my resolution.  Finally, congratulate me when you observe me getting it right.  I’m going to need all the help I can get.  

I’m ending this blog with a set of interactive quotes from Pooh and Piglet, creations of A.A. Milne, that cut to the chase on staying in the moment.