As I publish this piece, I’ve only got a few short weeks ahead of me before I welcome my second baby into the world. Right now, time is stretchy, moving both fast and slow. My mind and body are preparing for what’s right around the corner and I find myself slowing down but somehow even with the best reason in the world I still catch myself battling a sense of guilt for slowing things down and pressing pause. I’ve been resisting opportunities to relax and searching for distractions and to-do’s to overcome my impatience, feel productive and pass the time away. There’s a relentless push to ‘do’, every day. Do you feel it too?
why are we so averse to slowing down, and what if the key to success
actually lies in doing less or pressing pause?
The push for productivity
As I get ready for the next chapter in my life, I’ve naturally slowed down physically. But mentally it’s been more of a struggle to embrace the space and do less daily. Even though I have consciously chosen to press pause while other pressing priorities take over, it’s still a challenge at times to embrace a sense of slowness in today’s fast-paced, productivity-driven world and not equate rest to redundancy.
It wasn’t until a friend shared this research that I realised during my current period of ‘rest’, I am actually operating at the upper limits of human endurance! That’s right, research reveals pregnant women are akin to extreme endurance athletes in terms of how far we push the human body to the absolute edge of experience. This insight has been such a paradigm shift for me (and please pass it on to any pregnant lady who needs to hear it too!). With this perspective in mind, it’s become a lot easier to stop pushing the productivity agenda, pause whenever I need to and actually embrace taking a break!
Go, go … go?
Whatever your personal circumstances are right now; slowing down, pressing pause, taking a break, switching lanes, creating space, saying no, accepting help, pulling back (or whatever you want to call it) is important to do regularly. Why? Because we need to balance doing with being in order to optimise our output and be smart about what we pursue and where we spend our finite time and energy.
However, it can seem daunting and even scary to press pause and take stock. In a world where we’re told to strive, where it’s not enough to keep up but instead we need to get ahead, where we’re endlessly plugged in, where FOMO is real, where competition and comparisonitis is rife; slowing down seems like a lazy option and the antithesis of success. Surely a step taken towards slowing down, or stopping altogether for a time, is something that will inevitably set us back? There’s plenty of guilt associated with going slow, a sense of scarcity that makes stopping seem counterintuitive and a collective fear around making space, saying no and taking rest when everyone else is racing ahead. We are prone to worry about what will pass us by if we dare to pause.
Rest is best
In fact, there is great power in the pause and it can be an incredibly powerful strategy to use, to help you to thrive in life and work. For example, this piece of research looking at the impact of rest on athletic performance shows that strategically slowing down is critical to getting ahead and performing at your peak. Rest is essential to recovery and studies show that athletes who paused for longer were more likely to optimise future performances compared to those who didn’t take enough of a break and pushed ahead too soon.
CREATING THE SPACE
Whether your pause period consists of three conscious breaths a day, carving out a regular breaktime to rest, refuel and reprioritize your workload, reclaiming your weekends or slowing down and stopping for a little while longer; it’s a worthy investment of your time and energy to press pause however you can. Work with whatever time you have and I promise you’re going to return to the present moment feeling more re-energised and ready for what’s to come.
Want to succeed? Start by slowing down!
Discover my top five reasons why SLOWING DOWN is a powerful success strategy to try,
and how you can use A PAUSE to your personal and professional advantage:
#1 RECOVER
As humans, we’re simply not designed to deliver 24/7, regardless of what society’s stress-fueled narrative would lead you to believe. It’s true that our bodies and brains can cope with a certain level of stress - we can actually thrive in short stress sprints - but that doesn’t mean we need to operate from a permanently stressed-out space or expect our output to be one hundred percent, all of the time.
We also possess an inbuilt relaxation response for a reason - to counteract the experience of stress. It’s important to take deep rest and hit ‘relax’ by activating our parasympathetic nervous system as often as possible to undo the effects of stress on our minds and bodies if we want to feel at our best and go the distance. Recovery needs to be a part of the plan if you want to perform at your peak.
#2 REFLECT
It’s hard to take stock when you don’t have the space. This leads to reacting to situations rather than responding to them wisely. Slowing down gives you the opportunity to more accurately assess what’s going on and creatively conjure up ideas on how best to move forwards. You’re more likely to generate a range of solutions when you approach an issue from a positive, relaxed headspace than a frazzled and frantic one. At times when you go slow its easier to see what’s in your way and what you need to succeed. Slowing down gives you time to reflect on how far you’ve come and where you’re heading next.
#3 REPRIORITISE
My life is about to enter a new chapter and with that comes a huge shift in roles, responsibilities and priorities. I have to accept the changes ahead and reprioritise accordingly. What’s going on in your world right now, and what’s most pressing? Are you clear on the tasks you have to do and the timeframe to action them? Are your responsibilities manageable at the moment? Do you have the capacity to take on more commitments? A well-timed pause creates the space to get clear on what’s most important to you and take conscious action to address it in a way that feels good for you.
When you’re rushed, stretched or overwhelmed it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. We’ve all been there. You end up reacting to what’s in front of you and in a stressed state everything seems ‘urgent’ and ‘important’. But what’s really a top priority? The truth is, life changes from day to day and so too do your demands. You are the one in control of your time and attention, and with that comes the power to reprioritise where you place your focus and figure out what is going to get done first. Even the briefest of pauses will allow you a moment to calm the sense of urgency and gain clarity on deciding exactly what to do next. It is a simple but highly effective game changer.
#4 REVIEW
Do you remember the last time you set yourself some goals? What were they? Is goal-setting something you do weekly, quarterly, annually, or not at all? Research reveals that most people live life on autopilot and with that comes the realisation we aren’t taking time to take stock - review what’s going right, wrong or where we’re heading towards. We’re simply going through the motions in survival mode, “stuck in a rut”, repeating the same routines as our goals become blurry at best.
According to positive psychology and PERMA theory, working towards and ultimately achieving our goals is a fundamental ingredient to elevating our wellbeing. It’s one thing to set lofty goals on January 01 with the best of intentions to see them through, but the reality is that without regular review, you’re unlikely to remember what you set out to achieve and even less likely to accomplish it. This can all be remedied with a well-timed pause; taking a mindful moment to reconnect with (or perhaps set!) your goals and switch off autopilot as you remember what it is you deeply desire. Take just a little time out - an hour somewhere pleasant will do - to review what it is you want to achieve, where you started and how far you’ve come, and how you’ll know when you’ve reached your destination. Dispell the notion that you don’t have the time to consider your goals and get clear on your path forwards. Instead, remind yourself that slowing down and taking stock will actually speed up the time it takes to accomplish the most important stuff. This is a fraction of your time well spent that will motivate you to take inspired action, continue with confidence and ultimately succeed at whatever it is you set your mind to.
#5 RE-ENERGISE
Twenty-first century life with all its comforts and commodities is truly tiring and the fact is, time seems to slip through all of our fingers too damn fast. No one is bored - we’re all busy doing something. A hectic lifestyle is seriously draining on the mind and body and leaves us battling with how it’s possible to ever attain a sense of ‘balance’.
A well timed pause can be a beautiful way to stop the clock and put our health and happiness first. Because without these as our solid foundation, what’s it all for? Balance will look and feel different to all of us, but we could all do with a little rest and the chance to restore. Consciously making time and space to slow the pace of life a little, to practice self-care, to tune into gratitude, to be in the moment, to have fun, to truly connect with those we care for and relax in nature, these are the things that can replenish us from the inside out and leave us feeling at our best. Surely slowing down is worthy of forgoing our nightly scroll and scheduling in, if it’s success not self-sabotage we’re seeking.
The paradox of pausing is that it is a necessary piece of the high-performance puzzle. Stepping back will help you to get ahead. Slow is the new fast. The hare and the tortoise taught us that slow and steady is the way to go if we want to win the race in the end. So ditch the guilt and take your time, regularly press pause, and trust that slowing down is the true secret to achieving success and performing at your peak.
Which #Reason resonates with you? How do you press pause, and how often is optimal for you? Leave a comment below about the way it works well for you or which slow-down strategies you’d like to try.
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