Life Seems A Race To Hit Your 90th Birthday As Fast As Possible
Rethink if that’s the best recipe to get the most out of life and work
Hello there - in a rushed world,
Here comes your weekly permission to Un-rush and Stress Less.
Timeless insights and impulses on how the power of slow helps you grow - in a rushing world crushing your life
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INSIGHT
Life Seems A Race To Hit Your 90th Birthday As Fast As Possible
Rethink if that’s the best recipe to get the most out of life and work
Do you want to race to your 90th birthday?
At least that is how everybody acts. In this modern world, we live in the fast lane.
We feel the pressure of I HAVE to / I MUST / I SHOULD. We are afraid of what will happen if we let ourselves slow down if we take the time to question our decisions, and if we open ourselves up to some self-awareness.
“To grow into who we are, we need the time and space to think, to meander, experiment, and create substance. Work, on the other hand, would rather we just go faster to meet those SMART goals because even if the end results are thin and weak, the goals have been met and bonuses achieved.” -
Slowing Down Is For The Brave Ones
Slowing down is not for slackers. Slowing down is for those who want to strive and become better at what they do.
Because it takes time to master a subject.
Because slow is an essential part of good thinking.
Because when we slow down, we notice both the details and their potential repercussions. We ask more and better questions and come to more and better conclusions.
What’s the point of doing a million things and going as fast as possible when you end up spending your whole time in overdrive and trying not to fall behind schedule?
You might not even hit your 90th birthday because you dropped before. And shortly before it’s over, you are wondering what the hell you did all your life and that you don’t remember a thing. You realize that you only brushed the surface, rushing to finish everything on your list.
"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life." - William Morris
Different Moments Deserve Different Tempo
A little selective slowness might help you to live and work better.
If you want to make it to 90 with gratitude and satisfaction and countless stories about how great life has been – you might want to consider slowing down to the point where you can give each moment the time and attention it deserves.
There is a better chance to sustain the intense pressure in our turbocharged world and the intense effort needed to accomplish first-rate work if you allow yourself some leisure time, some recreation, some stillness, and some time for yourself.
Getting rest and cultivating the art of doing nothing is the thing that enables the other stuff on your mind to be sorted out and to produce ideas and solutions.
You might think you waste your time when doing nothing, but in fact, you might produce more than when busily rushing around.
“Going slow is not about eliminating action from your life. It’s about giving each moment the time and attention it deserves.” - Carl Honoré
Sometimes you go slow, sometimes fast. It is about understanding that your time is limited and valuable, and you can choose where to place your energies, depending upon where they need to be.
Get more out of work and life by doing less.
“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” – Lily Tomlin
IMPULSE
Curated stories on the topic of Slowing Down for Growing Fast, designed to open up new ways of looking at why you should give yourself permission to Un-Rush.
Stress Does Not Just Happen To You. You Chose It
It is up to us if we get all stressed out about stuff.
Here is a different perspective: We stress about things that we care about. This is the key to turning “stress” into a positive outlook and the way you deal with it.
You can choose to think ‘I am not stressing about this’ because what you actually do is that you care about a person, your situation, a deal, an agenda.
When you care about something, you put thought, energy, time, action, and effort into it. You care about a person, so you get all stressed out when this person is sick and you want to help. It is important to you to come on time to your appointment, you care about it, so you get all annoyed and stressed about the lame duck driver in front of you and start honking.
“People are disturbed not by a thing, but by their perception of a thing.” — Epictetus
We only stress about things that we care about.
And then you have a choice. You can get stressed out, or you can choose to perceive the situation in a different, optimistic, positive way.
And relax. Take it easy. Slow down your “stressy” emotions.
READ my whole article about why your stress means that you care >>>
Dale Carnegie On Life
“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie
Leisure Time Is Not Lazy Time
One big manifestation of timelessness is the Now. There's not even a millisecond between now and now.
Now is the time.
Leisure does not mean a state of laziness, as is often mistakenly assumed today, but a relaxed focus on the present.
Leisure time gives your brain the time to work things through, it is a time when your unconsciousness sorts out stuff. It is a time when the brain makes connections and links between various information, ideas, and input you accumulated.