Russian’s invasion of Ukraine has made me watch
international news channels such as Al Jazeera, CNN, etc in past 3 weeks than I
have for most of my life. In this same period, because of the state burial, I
watched our national broadcaster’s news and made an interesting observation.
This bordered on the level of adherence to the
programming by international news channels as opposed to our local stations.
Currently, global news has been focused on the Russian
invasion of Ukraine with 90% and sometimes even 100% content for every news broadcast.
The rest of the news has been left to either appear as subtitles (delegated at
the bottom of the screen) or completed removed from the programming. They have
focused on the “important” content as opposed to trying to share all the news
items they may have. As a result, they are mostly on schedule with no
cancelling or delay of programs.
Coming to our local broadcaster, even if the main item
was the state burial, watching the news felt as though everything had to be
shown so long as it reached the newsroom. On a day of having an exceptional
event (state burial), most of the reporting focused expectedly on the function
which covered more than 60% of main news time. However, the news continued with
more content than the allocated time and it was no surprising that some
programs after the news had to be cancelled or rescheduled.
In my early days of work, I noticed that I was running my
daily schedules (programming) like our local broadcaster. I would write down
every possible activity (news item) which I could think of doing for that day
on my to do list (schedule). My diary would be filled with to do list which
looked more like history lesson notes.
My aim was to action all the items on my list (show all
the news). Productivity was all about number of activities I crossed out at end
of the day. As a result, I ended up knocking off late from work and on most
occasions working even on weekends. I overrun my programming leading to stress
and burnouts on regular occasions.
What I have learnt now is to streamline what is critical
by working on vital (“newsworthy”) activities and eliminate or
delegate the rest. In as much as we would like to do more, we only have a
limited time and energy which is better channelled towards your prime activities.
By working on (showing) a few important tasks (news
items) at work each day, you will reduce unnecessary burnouts (overrunning) in
your life (programs) and make time for other important things in your social
and spiritual spheres of life.
Leave a Reply