Many years ago I read a quote. I think it was from the Dalai Lama but I’m not actually sure and I haven’t found it again yet. The quote went something like this: “The more you are in a hurry, the more you need to slow down.” The words had a profound impact on me and I began living them.
Every time I feel rushed, this sentence pops up in my mind and I slow down deliberately. The result is not just a calmer life, but also less mistakes and a lot more finished projects. Turns out, slowing down is a key life skill and a major productivity hack.
Stressed and hectic
When we become hectic, we actually experience a fear or anger response. One of the effects of these two emotions is that they narrow our vision, literally and figuratively. The field of vision for our eyes is much smaller and the part of our brain responsible for creative thinking gets less blood. We are in fight or flight mode.
We make more mistakes, literally overlook solutions right in front of us and out-of-the-box thinking becomes temporarily impossible. Feeling hectic is about as unhelpful a state as you can get into. What’s worse is that both fear and anger prime us for immediate action. They release a lot of energy. We’re much more prone to do or say the wrong thing. We literally cannot think clearly when we are stressed or hectic.
The antidote
The solution is almost laughably easy: Slow down everything. When I first started to practise slowing down, I used to focus on my actions. Any time I felt hectic, I would literally force myself to walk and move more slowly. Then I added the breath. Breathing deeply is one of the most effective ways to calm down fast.
Slowing down is so effective, that it only takes a few seconds to get me out of the stress state. When my body feels calmer, I slow down my thoughts. I take the time to deliberately think through the issue or situation in front of me. Sometimes, my thoughts want to rush again so I interrupt them with questions.
If you enjoy journalling, writing your thoughts down is an even more effective way to get out of a hectic state because it takes longer than just thinking the thoughts. Even speaking out loud to yourself or maybe the people you are with slows you down. When your mind and your body are calm enough, you can decide what you really want to do next.
Prevention
Just these simple tricks have been so incredibly effective in the past ten years that slowing down is one of my favourite life skills. The quote at the beginning of this post is now an automatic mantra. Any time I feel hectic or stressed the words appear and I put on the breaks.
Recently, I decided to slow down my life in general. I used to listen to podcasts at 1.5 speed. Sometimes I would even watch YouTube videos faster so I could consume more content. Not anymore. I am deliberately slowing everything down. At first, my brain was a bit impatient. I also had to leave an old story behind: “Learning as much as possible as fast as possible is important!!” I replaced it with another new mantra: “Quality over quantity.”
What did I get in return? I create more content than ever and the creation process is easy and fun. More importantly to me though is that for the first time since I can remember, I am present in my life most of the time. Slowing down gave me easy mindfulness.
“Words don’t teach. Only experience teaches.” That’s another one of my favourite quotes. It’s from Abraham Hicks. Try slowing down for yourself. Any time you feel hectic, put on the breaks. Watch what happens and create your own experiences. Slowing down might just change your life too.