“Today, my intuition decided to bring in the message of slowing down … double timing me to get the point across. The first message came when I was doing my ab workout. Throughout the workout, the message of slowing down the moves to get to the deep core of the workout was consistent. Then, upon opening my emails, one email in particular stood out … DailyOM “Doing Things Slowly”.

Right away, I knew the message of slowing down was my message for the day and I’m sharing it with you.

Often, we are told to slow down. But what does that actually mean? Why is it so important? And how do you go about doing it in a world of instant gratification and constant connectivity? Let’s take a look at the first question: why should we slow down?  This blog post will explore some of the benefits of slowing down, as well as methods for achieving this goal.

Benefits:

• Creates awareness to be in the present moment … allowing yourself to slow down makes you fully (and sometimes painfully) aware of each moment in your life. You finally notice exactly what your partner is saying to you as you go about eating your breakfast (intentional listening). You, also, begin to notice what you are putting into your body and how long it takes you to do that (intentional consuming). By creating this awareness, you have become more intention in the way you do life. Not a bad thing to do. This intentionality has you establishing better communication skills as you are really listening. This has you becoming a better leader as you are not listening to what is really being said. How cool is that? Then, this intentionality can have you losing weight as you have suddenly decided to slow down your eating and really listen to when your body says … I’m full! How fun to become healthier.
• Establishes a pattern of quality behaviors … zipping through activities at lightning speed may have you feeling productive. And it really can create stress, inaccuracies in your work, along with the potential of never completing a full task (more than likely you are multi-tasking). By slowing down the speed of your activities, you are establishing better quality work patterns. That overload of tasks you need to accomplish, break them down into small bites of activity so you can be more accomplished … check it off your list (Yippee!). Having established these quality behaviors transforms the way you view the work you do (potentially enjoying it more) and becoming more creative in the way you do this life thing with more ease.
• Designs a sustainable lifestyle … practicing the method of slowing down takes effort. It is a discipline to choose and become, not do one time and never again. Embodying this new way is more sustainable than pushing to work as fast as possible. For you to do your best work, slowing down allows you to make better decisions, connect deeper with community, have more meaningful experiences/relationships and improves your overall well-being … mentally and physically. It may feel as if you are going too slow and you will go further when you do go slower.   

Is it possible to live a life that is both successful and relaxed? If you’re like me, the answer is yes. Here are some tips for slowing down:

• Set a timer on your phone or watch for 10 minutes of rest every hour
• Don’t schedule any appointments during lunch and don’t work during this time
• Fully connect when listening to any & all conversations (stop multi-tasking)
• Take your weekend as what it truly is … rest and play for you … not work
• Disconnect from social media & technology after 8 pm

Slowing down in the midst of a fast-paced world is not always easy, but it does have its benefits. Consider what slowing down could do for you by thinking about these five ways to slow down so that you can be more productive at work, home, or life. What will you do today or this week? Pick one thing from the above list — pick anything or choose your own! Don’t you owe it to yourself and your loved ones who depend on you? Remember, quality over quantity will never go out of style.