I recently wrote about how some business people are trying to run their business on a 24h/24h day basis. With the help of the technology, it has become easy to stay connected through mobile phones, emails, push mails, internet, wireless, WiFi , 3G and so on.

This mobility definitively helps to drive the business. A dollar is a dollar and saving a minute can save your business. Attending DigiGen08, speakers will tell you this is about multitasking and it is part of the Digital Generation genes.

However, I am wondering if this is really efficient in a long run.

The world is definitively ‘spinning faster’ and one should catch up if you want to keep your head above the water. To avoid drowning, you have to swim faster and harder than before.
The problem now is that when you swim, you are swimming to survive, not to plan.
There comes a risk that your actions are always based on a last minute emergency and you have less time to plan in advance your next step in order to stay ahead of the competition.

As such, there is a chance that you react instead of staying ahead.

The other risk is that you are not allowing your mind to get sufficient rest, which could lead to you getting blurred and confused.

In this fast paced world, my advice would be to take some time to think. This is why I love travelling so much. I am always amazed to see all my business colleagues working 10 hours in a row on a flight. Don’t get me wrong, this happens to me as well when I am in a rush, in need of closing a file or delivering a contract, project etc.

However, the benefit of working on a flight is it forces you to be disconnected.

It forces your mind to rest and suddenly everything become clearer.
Same goes with your new mobile phone with the push mail function. Before you got it, you could easily not check your emails over night. I can bet that now, you check it as soon as you have 5minutes free.

This syndrome has been named as an addiction by doctors. Like any drugs, they are dangerous.

Life is not a 100m sprint but rather is a marathon and we need to prepare and pace ourselves accordingly.
Learn how to disconnect. Lear to unplug and get the bigger picture into perspective.
Your family, your friends, your business and even yourself will be more than happy on the long run.

P.S : I am going back to my PC to check my emails (no one said it is easy to resist… =) )