The Multitasking Samurai.

Our life in this modern world requires that we are on the go and connected. Your boss expects you to have your mobile phone with you even after hours and on weekends. People expect instant responses to e-mails and I have clients calling at all times of the day and night expecting that I drop everything to look after them even at the expense of my wife and kids.

Multitasking has become the buzzword and unfortunately is misunderstood. The fact of the matter is our brains, amazing creations that they are, are really poorly equipped to focus on more than one task at a time, especially if the tasks are complicated. Sure, you will be able to do many tasks in a day, but the reality is if you try to do them all together your will be inefficient and probably make mistakes where if you complete a task, before moving onto the next task you will get more done and make far less mistakes. You can try this simple experiment to see how poorly equipped we are at multitasking:

Make two cups of coffee and stir them both at the same time, one with the left hand in a clockwise direction and one with the right hand in an anti-clockwise direction.

The task is by no means complicated, you have probably made a few thousand cups of coffee/tea in your lifetime, but the simple complication of stirring in different directions adds a dimension which requires considerable mental effort. Imagine how much more effort is required to carry out two unfamiliar task of greater complexity.

In this simple example you will really lose no time by stirring one, completing the task, before stirring the second.

The Samurai had already figured this out centuries ago and have mastered the art of clearing the mind - Mune Muso. In this state of 'no mind' nothing distracted him from the task at hand. It does not matter if that task is making tea or cutting down an enemy the Samurai's focus was complete on a single task. This is definitely the case with competition. You do not enter a boxing ring while worrying about the mortgage or your marketing budget, You do not step up to the line in the All Japan Karate Championships while thinking about which e-mails you need to answer and it is an absolute given that no one in the mens 4x100m hurdles at the olympics will have a mobile phone with them at the starting line.

Yet strangely enough it has become accepted in the business world that while you are working, you will accept multiple calls and answer your email. This does not make any sense at all unless you are a switchboard operator who's job it is to answer calls.

If you want to get the most out of your dojo sessions then make sure you are not multitasking, and clear your mind. If you have a bunch of things rushing through your mind consider making a to-do list, for after the session. This way you have let your mind know that you will not forget a task and it is easier to put the clutter out of your mind.

You can do the same in business. Start your day with a to-do list or with a to-do list created at the end of business the previous day. Then work according to the list and complete a task before moving on to the next task. Consider leaving your mobile phone, and e-mail turned off for the first part of the day, or at least until you have completed critical tasks on your to-do list. I believe you will definitely see an increase in productivity and experience a less stressful day.

I would love to hear what you think.

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The image I used in this post is by The Ghost of a Flea and comes from flickr. It is used with permission. If you get a chance, visit his flickr photostream here.

If you would like to read more on this topic you might consider reading these:
How Multitasking and E-mail Waste Time
Financial Aid Hack: The Multitasking Myth And How To Really Increase Productivity

Ronin and Business Today.

In feudal Japan, a samurai who had lost his master was an outcast, a ronin, a “wave man” tossed aimlessly by the sea. The reasoning was simple, the samurai had been unable to protect his lord, so what good was he. Another reason for becoming masterless was by deserting your lord. Neither of these is a particularly laudable reason for becoming unemployed and as a result the Ronin was generally shunned by all. Other lords were discouraged from hiring these ronin for fear of offending the previous master or the local Daimyo or the Shogun.

The truth was in many cases quite different. It should be understood that Feudal Japan was a very stratified society. It was virtually impossible to move through the various castes of Japanese social hierarchy. When the Shogunate wanted to consolidate power, it did this by removing power from various Daimyo, often times stripping them of their lands along with titles. The children of samurai so disenfranchised were very often born into the ronin class. The result was many samurai suddenly in the position where they no longer had a lord. There is evidence that at one point in history, there may have been as many as five hundred thousand ronin roaming Japan.

This was a lightbulb moment for me. I realized that a group of very capable men, who were devoted to a cause were suddenly outcast in the very towns ad society they had served. This is exactly the same as what we have seen happen in South Africa over the last 15 years. Various well intentioned government policies have left a large number of skilled workers out in the cold. Policies of Affirmative Action (AA), and Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) are our present government’s efforts to achieve a particular political objective which is subject to the laws of unintended consequences. The fall out from this is that a large portion of the educated white population lost their jobs, or find themselves unable to find a job because a company is doing what it can to comply with some demographic quota. The ronin who now becomes self employed or a one man concern is perceived by many to be of little value because they are unable to find a job. Or they were retrenched because they were just not good enough. This is a label often placed on the person without any effort to understand the full facts

The response of the ronin was varied. Some looked for employment with another lord which met with mixed success for reasons both economical or political. Some turned to crime, gathering other ronin around them to form bandit hordes to terrorize and pillage. Some became mercenaries, bodyguards or muscle for hire, some became wandering teachers of philosophy or martial arts or became itinerant priests while some became tradesman changing profession completely. There was no easy road for the ronin. Their success was based purely on their character and tenacity in following through.

We have seen a very similar trend in South Africa where the Policies, which left a man out on the street, have forced him to find a different paradigm in which to continue to make ends meet. Some have been able to find alternate employment, some became mercenaries or contractors while some have jumped on the entrepreneurial wagon and have carved out a niche for themselves in this economy.

An interesting aspect of this in the Japanese context is that many Samurai were envious or jealous of the freedom of their ronin contemporaries. Where the Samurai was bound by his lords will even if that appeared to be contrary to his ethical, moral or warrior code, the ronin were free to act as he chose and was accountable to himself only.

In our modern society with technological and business advances like the Internet and email the entrepreneur has all the advantages of business with less of the overhead. The entrepreneur is able to change tack far quicker than a larger business. This makes a lot of sense in a volatile economic climate.

So if you are a ronin and are looking for a way to thrive in a system which may appear to be stacked against you, then take heart. The ronin in feudal Japan thrived and succeeded, and it is possible to weather the current storms which we face in South Africa, or any part of the world for that matter, and thrive. What is required is passion and hard work. Do not believe anyone who tells you you can do anything worth while without putting in the effort. It is not sustainable.

So revel in your ronin freedom and make everything you do count.

PS I bought an online marketing package which I found very valuable. They do not promise instant wealth, but do give you all the information required to make a good living using the Internet. Be warned! It will take work, but you will not be disappointed. Take a look at The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet.

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Crisis of Credit

A reality of being a leader or Samurai today, is that you need to pay attention to far more than simply your martial arts. The Samurai were not only fierce warriors on the battlefield, but also diplomats, businessmen and land owners. In every sphere of their life they were required to excel. Feudal Society can be very intolerant of the weak.

27. Hence it is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for purposes of spying and thereby they achieve great results. - Sun Tsu, The Art of War

In the interest of providing some intelligence which you may not already be in possession of, I offer the following: -

I'm sure that by now you are all very aware of the financial black hole the global economy is in.

Just in case you are not sure how it all happened, this video clip is the best description I have ever seen to explain the sub-prime lending crisis which hit the US.

Take a look at this video to see how the hunt for money has put us all in a rather prickly situation.

If the video loads very slowly you can also view the same 11 minute 15 second clip in two parts on Youtube. Crisis of Credit Part 1 and Part 2.

Yes this is a US problem, but we are all affected by the fall out. The bank which owns your house may have been one of the investors or others in the video. Even if you are sitting in New York, Johannesburg, Alice Springs or Timbuktu the sub-prime crisis will have an effect on you.

In the spirit of the warrior, now is the time for all warriors to work especially hard to ensure that they survive this changing battle field. Indeed this battle is easily survivable, but we need to adapt our thinking. Act decisively and with courage.

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Image: "Corporate Shogun" found on Flickr.