I am currently reading” In Praise of Slowness,”  by Carl Honore and I love the concepts.  It has led to a lot of reflection on my own life and embodying the principles of slow living.
At this point my life is far from slow.  Every day I write out a notecard of all the things I have to do for the day and I find that it is totally packed.  Yesterday I was going from 9am to literally 9pm almost every minute accounted for and today it is the same.  This is stressful.  When you have very little time and spaciousness between activities and appointments if something unexpected comes up (i.e.: traffic, upset child, losing your keys, long line etc.) you are thrown into a tizzy.  Talk about stressful.
Now I am asking myself, what is all of this busyness?  Many of things that fill my day are not all work related.  I actually enjoy working out, going to a networking event, dance lessons, dinner with friends, and grocery shopping.  All of them combined in one day makes for one every chaotic day with little spaciousness or time for reflection.  Even as I sit here writing this blog, I am thinking to myself, this is the hour that I have allotted to going to the gym.
How do we stop this busyness and move towards a slower life?  I don’t necessarily claim to have the answers, as I am still pondering this question.
Here is what I am committed to doing:

  1. Get clarity on what is really important in my life and what gives it value.  My coach terms these things as, “lifetime value” activities.  Such as working out, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be 2 hours at the gym it could be a walk with a friend.  Then covers another lifetime value activity, creating a strong and supportive social network.   Eating healthy foods, spending time writing, painting, meditating, these are all lifetime value activities.   Now before I do an activity I try to ask myself, “Does this improve my quality of life?”
  2. Letting go or minimize activities that do not provide “lifetime value.”  Letting go of watching television, only go shopping for things that I need, minimizing social activities that drain my energy, committing to an 8 hour or less work day, not overworking (I know this one is tough if not impossible, but necessary if you want to slow down your life).
  3. Letting go of being perfect.  Would I love to get a pedicure every 3 weeks and my hair done every 4 weeks?  Absolutely, but realistically when my schedule gets hectic these are things that are not absolutes.  Ok so my hair gets overgrown. my nails get a little ghetto, my towels are not folded perfectly, nor is the bed made every day and I wear the same outfit 3-4 days in a row.  This is part of life; honestly, no one cares or will remember if you didn’t look perfect.  Let go of perfection and revel in the beauty of imperfection and naturalness.
  4. Try to be less reactionary and more pro-active.  What does that mean exactly?  Taking control of your schedule.  Don’t be a slave to e-mail and the phone.  Of course you need to check and respond to messages, but plan on doing that 2-3 times a day.  Once you start checking e-mails you become reactionary, because you generally need to respond to messages and action items.  In the morning, before checking anything plan your day out to include times to respond to things.  I am generally most productive in the morning so I try to plan my most high value activities in the morning; once those are done then I check e-mails.

What tactics do you use to help you slow down?  I would love to hear them.
In celebration of slowness and until next time,
Sharon