There are very few (actually, I don’t think any) people that I talk to that don’t have enough to do. In contrast, most people are struggling to fit in everything they need to in a day.
Think about it: Did you have time today to just sit in silence? If you did, did you?
For many that have some spare time, it’s spent scrolling instagram or your email. Making good health decisions requires a decent amount of brain power. It requires us to make many decisions throughout the day that might go against our habits.
For instance:
- Eating a high protein breakfast instead of grabbing something from the store on the go
- Not having a high sugar coffee in the morning
- Having a vegetable with our meal
- Going to the gym instead of watching TV
- Not having unlimited snacks before you go to bed
So what happens? We are so busy throughout the day we have a hard time making the right choice. We are exhausted, our brain hasn’t had a single moment to simply process our thoughts and emotions, and we get home and easily revert to our normal habits.
Modern living comes with a strange feeling: we MUST be busy. We must be the MOST busy. Success doesn’t really matter… Effectiveness doesn’t really matter.. Just tell me how freakin’ busy you are.
If you know what you need to be doing but you’re just struggling to get it done, you might be in need of some purposeful slowing down.
What can this look like?
- Taking intentional breaks.
This could simply be a walk to the kitchen to get some water and take a breath. It’s funny.. when it comes to the gym we are well aware of how effective breaks are. If we need to do 100 thrusters we don’t do as many as we possibly can at once until we absolutely can’t anymore.. instead we take purposeful breaks to move at an efficient, sustainable pace. These breaks may seem like they slow us down at first, but when it comes down to it we’re going to be much quicker at getting through them in the end. Same goes for taking breaks during work. We might feel like they’re slowing us down… but they’re simply helping us from burning out.
- Delegating or eliminating tasks
Make a list. What are you doing that you could delegate? What are you doing that you don’t really need to be doing at all?
- Quiet time is good for you
If you hate it, it probably means you need it. Our brains need times of silence to process, be creative, and recharge. It’s ok to simply be.
What can you do to slow down this week?