Dot Calm: The Search for Sanity in a Wired World

By Debra Dinnocenzo and Richard B Swegan

For millions of people, technology is making their lives harder, not easier. They're bombarded with so much information they can barely read it, let alone process it. They're tied to the office-through email, cell phones, pagers, voice mail and fax machines-24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their sense of balance is under assault from the relentless onslaught of data and the feeling that they must be constantly "connected."
For everyone who yearns to simplify life, slow down, and get centered, all without compromising their career, Dot Calm offers more than hope-it offers answers. Based on the authors' in-depth interviews and survey results, Dot Calm outlines a wide variety of proven tactics that real people in all walks of life are using to cope with the ubiquitous problems of information, access, and work overload. This book provides an unprecedented chance to leverage the success strategies of people who have managed to sever the "electronic tether" that kept them constantly bound to their jobs.
Dinnocenzo and Swegan show that you don't have to sacrifice productivity or efficiency to have a sane, balanced life. On the contrary-technology can so overwhelm people with data that they have a hard time focusing on those activities that truly matter. Unplugging will actually make you more effective.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 8, 2001
• ISBN: 9781609943370

Book preview

Dot Calm

i

Dot Calm

iii

Debra A. Dinnocenzo & Richard B. Swegan

BERHETT-KOEHLER PUBLISHERS, INC.

San Francisco

iv

Dot Calm

Copyright © 2001 by Debra A. Dinnocenzo and Richard B. Swegan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650

San Francisco, California 94104-2916

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First Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-57675-152-7

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-60509-821-0

IDPF ISBN 978-1-60994-337-0

2010-1

Designed by Detta Penna.

Cover design by Seventeenth Street Studio.

v

To Thomas M’Clintock (1792-1876),

my great-great-great grandfather and my hero

—R.S.

To Maria Mancini Caprara (1906-1994),

my grandmother, for her enduring wisdom and legacy in my life

—D.D.

Foreword

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We swing between extremes like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. At one end of the pendulum’s arc, we see an exclamation point. At the other end, a question mark.

Swinging toward the exclamation point, we fling ourselves headlong into impossible work schedules fueled by fast food, motivational tapes and books on positive thinking. The idea is to win, to get ahead, to unleash the giant within. But as the heady rush of adrenaline fades, we lose momentum and begin to fall back toward the question mark. Swinging past the center-point, we slip quietly into misty-eyed reflection about the meaning of life and start using words like Zen. The next step would be to shave our heads and start dancing in orange robes at the airport!

This book is for that reader who can hear the wind roar as the pendulum of their life swings wildly toward the exclamation point. Be of good cheer, gentle reader, for you’ll find these pages to be filled with practical, how-to advice from the world’s happiest and most successful executives—step-by-step formulas for finding your equilibrium, maintaining your symmetry and keeping balance in your life.

Things are about to get much better.

Read on.

Roy H. Williams

Williams Marketing, Inc.

www.wizardofads.com

Special Foreword

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Preface

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Dot Calm: The Search for Sanity in a Wired World will help you understand the realities of various forms of overload and guide you in your search for solutions to the problems created by overload. The overwired, frenzied, non-stop world in which we live impacts your life, your work, your health, and your relationships. We suspect, however, you need less help with understanding these realities (you’re living them daily!) and more help on ways to handle them. Therefore, our main focus is on solutions to the problems created by overload, and on actions you can implement quickly and easily to make important changes in your life.

Our contributors provided many of the solutions and creative approaches we discuss here. The hundreds of people we surveyed or interviewed are probably much like you—overworked, tired, torn between conflicting priorities, and increasingly aware that something is missing in life. While many of the issues addressed are unique to the cultural dynamics of the U.S. society and workplace, the problems discussed can serve as a preview for those in other industrialized societies. Increasingly available and affordable technologies, increased access to information, and the globalization of electronic commerce will facilitate the transfer around the globe of opportunities—and problems—associated with a truly wired world. Therefore, readers beyond our shores can anticipate this reality and take steps to minimize negative consequences in their societies and their lives.

It is no coincidence that this book is in your hands (or on the screen of some electronic tool) at this particular moment. Whether you found it on a bookshelf or a website, received it as a gift from a concerned friend or loved one—or are lucky enough to have had it provided by an insightful employer—we trust that it has made its way to you because there’s a need. And when there’s a convergence of need, opportunity and information, wonderful things—and meaningful change—can occur. Therefore, we’re delighted to be your guides on the path to greater calm, balance, focus, and congruence in your life and work. We can’t think of a better way to invest our time or identify a more important contribution we can make to you, our readers—as well as your children, your communities, your organizations, and our society.xiv

Thank you for reading our book, joining us on this important journey, and trusting that we can all find a better way to live and work.

Debra Dinnocenzo and Rick Swegan

Wexford, Pennsylvania, USA

2001

Acknowledgments

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This book has been a labor of love for us—mostly because we still love each other after finishing it! While the end product is ours and we take responsibility for content, this book resulted from the input of more than two hundred people who completed questionnaires, provided reviews and critiques, participated in interviews, or engaged in lively discussions with us. While there are too many to mention by name, many of these people are named in the list of contributors to be found at the conclusion of the book.

We do want to thank some people specifically because without their efforts, this book would not have become a reality. The staff at Berrett-Koehler uncomplainingly answered our frequent questions and interjected doses of enthusiasm throughout this project. We are especially indebted to our editor, Steve Piersanti, for his vision, guidance, and support for our work. Detta Penna, our extraordinarily skilled production service and designer, has been a joy to work with and patient beyond words.

We offer abundant thanks to Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads. Roy graciously agreed to provide the Foreword, as well as additional valuable ideas through his other writings. We appreciate his perspective, wit and incredible reliability.

Two people deserve our special thanks because, without them, we would never have finished. Janet Ruckel, our administrative assistant, provided her valuable time, editorial assistance, calm, and encouragement. Jenyce Woodruff, aspiring basketball star and truly fine young woman, provided untold hours of loving childcare that afforded us essential opportunities to write.xvi

And last, but by no means least, we appreciate the contribution of our daughter, Jennimarie Dinnocenzo Swegan, whose enthusiasm, patience, humor, and love were key elements in our creative energy. We are also grateful for the contribution of her stories in the Special Foreword and Special Afterword. From the pens of babes—perspective and insight for us all!

Dot Calmxvii

Part One

Problem/Opportunity

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It begins almost imperceptibly. A small voice within quietly whispers. Its persistence becomes somewhat familiar—a soothing sound that both nudges and nurtures. Words are not formed, though the feeling becomes clearer. And you slowly begin to understand. It is like a radio signal that is garbled by static, though the station is unquestionably transmitting. And as you travel forth, the static dissipates, the