How To Slow A Day Down

One of the challenges of our very modern lives is time. We often come under pressure to think and act quickly. The tempo of our days seems elusively beyond our grasp. We react and respond. When we have those moments where we are in control of the tempo we drive forward quickly from the certain knowledge that our control of the timing of our days is only temporary. Those are the days we need to slow down.

I balance my time at work between responding to customer requests and project related work. Often any balance between the two forces is imaginary. They both push and pull simultaneously, competing complexities swirling about. Priorities shift, deadlines change, requirements creep – all of these things happen on a daily basis. Each of them has the capacity to spin the day out of control. Those are the days we need to slow down.

This is my small checklist on how to put the brakes on a careening day.

First, I recognize when I have “lost control” of the day. When whatever plan or intention I had was side-swiped as it approached the on-ramp.

Second, I acknowledge it by stopping, stepping back, and simply saying “Okay, my original plan and intention for the day has just been lost. Time to start over.”

Third, I make a physical break in the day – I will step outside to stand in the sun a bit, I will sit on a bench and admire the Japanese maples, I will listen to the calling of the sea-birds. For reasons known only to my mind, I find it so much easier to restart the day if it included this physical component.

Fourth, I will make a “perspective check” – that is, just step back, look at the day in context of the whole picture, and regain the perspective that I lost in feeling harried.

Fifth, I will cut off interrupting communications – instant messaging, the telephone, and email.

Sixth, then I will start moving slowly and methodically through the day, focusing on one thing at a time.

Usually, somewhere in this process, I find I am breathing a lot better and I’ve settled down quite a bit. Then, I will move forward through the day at the slow and steady pace. One of the things I always remind myself of is this – the urgency of other people is not my urgency. I will do a thorough and professional job based on my skills and abilities – that is what I am paid for. That is what my task assignments are. So, I take a deep breath, I slow down, and I focus on the bigger picture.