A head's up on keeping your head down

I went for a long walk this morning.

I live in a surprisingly leafy section of what is otherwise extremely urban part of Los Angeles. As I approached a busy intention and waiting for the light to change, I noticed a young man also waiting to cross.

He had his head down, staring at his phone.

When traffic cleared and we both crossed the street, he continued to walk with his head buried in this phone.

I thought, “what a moron”, while I also recalled the many times I have done the exact same thing.

In golf, when learning to hit the ball, we’re taught to keep our head down.

At work, we tell colleagues that we need to “put my head down” and crank through a myriad of tasks.

Yet at a baseball game, when a foul ball comes screaming into the stands, we hear “head’s up”.

At a big moment in one’s life it’s best to take a look around and take it all in.

When you’re feeling down, experts say one should keep their head up and everything will be ok.

There are times you need to have your head down and there are times you need to have your head up. Both are important, and yet often times we can take the wrong posture at the wrong time. And sometimes we can do both.

This reminded me of recent blog piece I read on the Quickbase site. The topic was “Big Picture” thinkers vs. “Detail-Oriented” ones.

It’s Heads Up vs. Heads Down.

The pieces says, “The big picture people tend to be creative, strategic, and visionary, but they can also be messy, disorganized, and forgetful. On the other hand, the details people are conscientious, planful, and exacting, but may lack perspective or fail to prioritize long-term goals.”

While plausible, I think this misses some nuance.

Think about a time when you had to set the vision for a project or idea. Maybe it was just a concept, or half-baked, but you had a big picture idea. Did you not have to buckle-down and work on the execution too?

We have a little bit of both personalities baked into us and at certain times we can big a big picture visionary, and at other times, a detail oriented i-dotter and t-crosser. Just like an introvert can still be excited about heading out to a dinner party, each of us encompasses the flexibility to operate against our norm when the time is right.

This takes me back to my friend who crossed the street while staring at his phone. I mean, how did he even know the light had changed??

But let’s not be so quick to judge.

Maybe he was not familiar with the neighborhood and was studying a map? Or maybe he was simply scrolling through Reels. (You know it’s the later!) Maybe he’s an “idea guy” who has no work ethic, or maybe he has no vision, but gets an absurd amount of work done on a tight deadline?

The Buddhists would say that unless we take control of our lives, our gadgets will take control of us. How true that is.

I think about my life, my work, and the times I need to put my head down to accomplish something. It can be a challenge. But I also think about the times I have had my head down, and missed the world going on around me. At least I’ve avoided moving vehicles.