We’re so busy watching out
for what’s just ahead of us
that we don’t take time
to enjoy where we are.
Calvin & Hobbes

It’s been just over a month now since I abandoned my business Facebook fan page and I can’t say I’ve missed it all that much. In the beginning there were times when I was almost talked into reviving it, but then I reminded myself of all the things I got done when I wasn’t caught up in that huge interruption to my day. Things I truly enjoy.

I’ve been challenged on this a number of times though, about how I can ignore my business marketing in favor of doing other things. But the thing is I’m not ignoring my business marketing, I’m just making wiser choices about how I do it.

It’s easy to get caught up in the latest fad, the latest craze, the latest “bit thing”. It’s easy to think that if you don’t join in you’re missing out on something, and that if you don’t keep up with the crowd you’ll get left behind. It’s easy to get caught up in that wild fast ride.

But slowing down has many benefits and one of those is the gift of insight.

Slowing down gives you time to check in with yourself, to look deep within to the place where all things really matter, and sometimes you can be surprised and delighted by what you find there.

You can find that calm, peaceful self; the one you remember from years ago when life wasn’t quite so frantic.

You can find that a strong single focus brings amazing results.

You can find that by doing less you are in fact achieving more and doing it better.

You can find that sometimes as you work with your cloth and thread, a story unfolds and secrets are whispered.

You can find that your breath is a truly grounding force.

I stop by Facebook from time to time but it doesn’t seem to hold the same appeal for me anymore. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I changed my focus from “something I thought I had to do for my business” (all the Facebook marketing stuff), to “something I really enjoy doing in my business” (my truly great creative stuff), and this has made all the difference to my attitude and viewpoint.

If you’re caught up in a wild fast ride, step aside for a moment and see how it feels. You might find you even enjoy it.

Main photo by giuss95

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When walking, walk.
When eating, eat.
Zen Proverb

Then …

When I was working in the corporate world during my 20s and 30s, multitasking was a requirement. It was taken for granted that if you didn’t multitask and do it well, then from a business perspective you were considered a less than desirable employee. You just wouldn’t be able to get through your work and meet your commitments.

Looking back at those years now I can see the flaw in that logic. Sure I got through my day and I met the requirements of my job and I even excelled and went over and above those requirements. But at what cost?

I recall that many times certain tasks had to be repeated because I forgot some small detail along the way. My mind was in so many places at once that things got overlooked. I remember waking up in the morning with the strong desire to just stay in bed; the dread of facing another day was overwhelming. I was stressed and tired and my health suffered.

I was totally burnt out by my late 30s and I don’t even like to imagine what got overlooked in my mad scramble to get things done, nor what harm I caused to the people that I thoughtlessly elbowed out of the way to get there.

Now …

Now, twenty years later it’s a much different story, and with the gift of hindsight I more fully appreciate the conscious decision I made along the way to stop multitasking altogether. Now the closest I come to multitasking is sipping a cup of tea while watching the hummingbirds out the window.

It’s hard to avoid …

Even if you’ve never experienced the madness that is the corporate world, it’s easy to fall into the multitasking trap and to give in to all the many demands that are made on our time during the course of a normal day. Juggling phone calls, texting and email, facebook and online distractions, family demands and personal needs, it’s no wonder we’re tired, stressed and ill.

Benefits …

But there’s a lot to be gained from being mindful and living in the present moment. Having conscious awareness of what you’re doing right now, you’re not thinking about what happened yesterday or the day before and you’re not worrying about tomorrow or next week, you’re fully aware in the present moment. Right here. Paying attention to the one thing you are doing right now. And when you slow down, focus and pay full attention to one thing you’re doing right now -

You become more efficient
Your task gets done quicker, with less errors and with better results.

Your creativity increases
Because your mind isn’t distracted by other things, it has time to notice the details of what you’re doing and this can lead to making new connections resulting in “aha” moments of sheer creative brilliance.

Tasks get finished
With less interruptions, things get finished and not laid aside and forgotten.

You feel a sense of completion
It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’ve completed a task from beginning to end and done your best work.

Your stress level drops
Because you’re only focusing on right now, you’re not worrying about a dozen different things a once. Being mindful is like a meditation.

Learning to be mindful …

I mentioned in a previous article my one best recommendation for slowing down and learning to be present. It’s not difficult and you do it thousands of times every day. Just breathe.

Additional Resources

Is multi-tasking bad for your brain?
How To MultiTask
Multitasking Can Make You Lose … Um … Focus

Main photo by click

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The Possible’s slow fuse
is lit by the Imagination.
Emily Dickinson

I’ve been talking lately about slow work which is all about slowing down and being consciously creative and giving your attention to what you’re doing. And I’m discovering all sorts of new and wonderful benefits of working with this philosophy and I even notice a growing trend toward it.

But wait! Did I just hear you say you don’t have time to slow down?

I understand that reaction, it used to be my reaction too until I made a very conscious effort to slow down.

But even so, after years of rushing fast to get things done, every now and then I still catch myself rushing through things. Just to get them done. It’s not easy to drop down gears and change speed; to change a lifetime habit.

What exactly is wrong with rushing to finish things?

At first thought, rushing through things to get them done doesn’t seem so bad. Particularly when it’s rushing through something that you really don’t want to do in the first place. It makes perfect sense. Almost.

But stop. And consider.

Things you do repeatedly soon become habits.

So now as well as rushing through things you don’t particularly like or want to do, you’re also rushing through everything you do, even the things you enjoy.

And because you’re in such a rush, don’t you find that things get overlooked and small important details are forgotten?

And often, forgetting the small important details can lead to failure.

And failure leads to blame.

And then to top it off, all this rushing around can cause health issues.

And …

Suddenly rushing through life doesn’t seem like such a great idea at all.

For most of my life I rushed through in this way. Everything pretty much became a mindless blur.

Except for the times when I was working with cloth and thread.

I learned very early in my sewing career that rushing through a sewing project often led to “unsewing” which was often time consuming and sometimes impossible to do at all, and often resulted in lost hours of work and sometimes total failure of the project.

Subsequently I always took my time when sewing with the threat of “unsewing” being my main reason for not rushing to get a project finished.

But as time went on I began to notice something.

I noticed that the more attention I gave to what I was doing and the more I slowed down and became immersed in my task, the more I experienced interesting results.

There were obvious results …
Such as my sewing skills improved, and the results of my work became better and more professional looking. This is not perfectionism; this happens when you pay attention to detail.

There were unexpected results …
My creativity flourished and I had more ideas tumbling around in my head than I could possibly ever use. Creativity is not the dreaming up of new ideas; creativity occurs when you work with slow intention which gives your mind time to recognize new connections when using old ideas.

There were surprising results …
I discovered “flow” – that often elusive experience of being so immersed in your creative work that hours become minutes or time stands totally still. You can’t force flow; it only happens when you slow down and pay attention.

There were also profound insights …
Such as feeling a connection to my work that went beyond the obvious application of simply “sewing and being creative”; a connection that was deep and profound and allowed me to express myself through my work in a way that touched my soul and made my spirit soar. For me, this is a very spiritual connection.

I loved discovering these things about working slowly. They have made a huge difference to my work and the way I view my work and I now approach things from a different viewpoint and I see things through different eyes.

Learning to slow down takes only one conscious step

And you can apply it to your work, or to your life in general.

All you have to do is bring your attention to your breath.

Placing your attention on your breath brings you into the present moment, and the anguishes of the past and the anxieties of the future simply drop away because there is no space for them here in the present moment.

Being in the present moment allows you to focus only on what you’re doing right here and now.

You don’t need much practice, you already know how to do it.

Notice the breath coming in. Cool. Notice your chest and belly filling with air.

Notice the breath going out. Warm. Notice your chest and belly emptying of air.

Close your eyes and listen. In this moment. As you focus on your breath, in and out. Concentrate on the sounds around you … the sound of a bird, the air conditioner, the noise of the neighborhood.

Open your eyes and look at what’s around you. In this moment. As you focus on your breath, in and out. Concentrate on what you’re doing … cooking, sewing, reading this article.

Allow distracting thoughts pass through; don’t engage them. Simply follow your breath.

Did you notice that as you paid attention to here and now, to your breath, to this moment, that everything else faded away?

In the beginning it’s not easy to remember to do this one simple thing, this following your breath. But it gets easier with practice.

And with practice and repetition comes habit.

Start with your creative work. And then continue the practice into other areas of your life. And in time you’ll notice that things will change in a positive and healthy way.

What an amazing way to invite change into your life.

Additional Resources
Websites
The Slow Movement
Slow Food
Articles
How to Slow Down Now (Please Read Slowly)
The Slow Down Movement

Main photo by camil tulcan

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