July marks the peak summer season in the northern hemisphere, and it’s a reminder to slow down from the fast pace of many jobs. I have been fascinated with slow living. On the one hand, it reminds us of life before technology. Who remembers this? Consider yourself lucky if you have technology-free memories. Having worked in a fast-paced environment for 20 years, I also wonder if slowing down will lead to less efficiency.
Ironically, we need to “slow down” to gain time. Time is the one resource we cannot increase. If you are brave, you can see the number of weeks you have left in a typical life: Life Counter. This visual puts time into stark perspective. It’s a tug-of-war between values and goals and how these two factors influence our priorities. What do you want: 70-hour work weeks or meaningful time with family and friends? Speeding through a one-week sightseeing vacation that becomes a blur or creating deeper connections with people that get etched in your long-term memory? Here are some ways living slowly has changed my life:
- I thoroughly enjoy doing fewer activities on any given day. Even if my task list grows, I gain a deeper understanding of the 2 to 3 things I can do in a day.
- I gain the luxury of making stronger connections between different thoughts and different parts of my life. For example, by slowing down and devoting time to letting my mind wander, I see the interconnections between how we live. I also saw how well we aligned our lives with our values. Making connections between disparate ideas may lead to new ways of thinking and previously unknown solutions. This practice may be crucial to refine creativity and open the door to innovative ideas.
- Like Taco Tuesday, I’ve had Tech-Free Tuesday afternoons. It was difficult to detach so I removed it gradually: lunch hour without a phone nearby, reading or drawing during a break at 3 pm. When the weather is hot, I love to start the day with an iced coffee on the deck while I do my mindfulness practice.
- See if your schedule allows you to do fewer activities in a day. My own experience of living a fast-paced life was realizing that I operated on autopilot. Autopilot is great to get things done but not in new and innovative ways. Fast-paced living on autopilot kills creativity.
As with any change, start small with simple tweaks, experiment, and when you find a technique that works, aim for consistency.
Copyright © 2023 Devashri Gupta. All rights reserved.
Further reading: Books by Carl Honoré, “In Praise of Slowness” and “The Slow Fix”
