I
Dare
You…
(…to
Try to Read a Book or Magazine at Your Desk in the Office for 10 Minutes During
Business Hours.)
Not a chance that you will get this done. Only two other
stipulations: it’s got to be a real physical book or business magazine (not on
a desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone) and your office door (if you have
one) has to be open with no “Do Not Disturb” sign on it.
And here’s the thing. It’s not for any of the reasons you would think.
It’s not because you’re too busy to take the time.
It’s not because people constantly barge into your office
interrupting whatever you’re doing.
It’s not because the phone won’t stop ringing or because your life
is one continuous tweet.
It’s not because it’s some crappy magazine like People or US or that the stuff you’re reading isn’t important or valuable.
Can you guess?
It’s because you’re afraid that your co-workers (junior or senior)
will see you and think you’re loafing.
Don’t believe it? Try it and see what’s the first thought that
runs through your head.
It’s amazing.
For some bizarre reason, and regardless of whether it’s the most
important chapter in a business book that’s absolutely critical for your
business or an article in the HBR or the New Yorker that’s full of relevant
information about your customers, clients, or technology, it just doesn’t
matter.
Sitting back, concentrating and reading today just seems like
we’re not working. And not just to our peers. I think that we can’t even convince
ourselves that it’s proper to do this in the office. We can send a zillion
emails. We can have our day completely disrupted by a constant stream of tweets
and calls. We can have a dozen useless meetings. And all this “looks” like work
– maybe even productive in most cases.
But sitting and studying – reading at our desk – we just can’t do
it.
Don’t believe it? Give it a
try.