Straight from the John is dedicated to a simple philosophy: That each of us, somewhere deep within our self, possesses two essential instruments for living a good life:
- A Compass that can guide our choices in unerringly moral and productive ways
- A Metronome that can synchronize our internal velocity with our pace of life
The idea of a moral compass has been discussed at length in many forums, including books such as The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The underlying principle is that if we stop, look, and listen, our moral compass will point us 
toward “true north”: the path that is right for us. This is very much akin to the Quaker belief that God speaks to all of us, but we must be very, very quiet if we are to divine the message. This belief, in turn, is similar to the meditation practices at the core of so-called “eastern religions”. The common thread is that listening is much more important than talking (which is what I consider Christian praying to be). More importantly, the existence of a moral compass hints that we humans have vast, untapped (or nearly so) resources that can help us lead better lives, individually and collectively.
Ascertaining the right direction is important, but so is our velocity in that direction. If we pursue our goal too slowly, we wander; if we charge at it too fast, we risk missing it entirely. In the western world these days, there are many more speed demons that need to slow down than there are wilderness wanderers that need to throttle up. Personally, I’ve experienced both at different stages in my life. For a few years of my near-half-century, I’ve been bored, lacking the healthy stimulation that comes with truly being alive. More often–and more recently–I’ve been living in an overwhelmed condition that cried out for relief that finally came only when I quit my job.
It occurred to me, in the wake of this change, that I could have listened better to the rhythm of life that I needed in order to be optimally productive (or close to it) and optimally happy (or close to it). In addition to listening more closely, I should have taken steps earlier in response to how “off-beat” I had become.
This line of thought blossomed into a single, metaphoric image: the metronome, a device that musicians use to set the proper tempo for a song. Listening carefully, once I had walked away from high-octane corporate America, I could hear my own internal rhythm. By the foreign-ness of the sound, I knew that I had been ignoring it for a long time–maybe my whole life.
There are many precedents for this two-instrument line of thought: most commonly, it’s the same direction-and-speed concept with which we measure the progress of planes, trains, and automobiles. We even use this same idea to evaluate the wind–which direction is is coming from and how hard is it blowing?
For me, recognizing the instrumentation involved has been a breakthrough. While there are countless websites devoted to productivity tools and techniques, I think this may be the only “productivity velocity” site.
*** To Be Continued ***
