Slow Down to Find More Time: Productivity Hack
Being Failure Friendly is about being your own biggest advocate, believing in yourself even when it seems impossible. What’s come to my attention lately is the way stress can hijack our ability to advocate for ourselves. Chatting with a group of women the other day we came to the conclusion that we all suffer from mental fog when we’re put on the spot to explain our ideas. At first we thought it was the result of self doubt, but then I remembered something awesome that had happened to me a few weeks earlier.
Usually at work when I’m asked for my opinion, to provide a solution or explain a strategy I’ve implemented, my standard response is ‘let me get back to you’. You see I spend so much time a work bouncing from task to task, meeting to meeting, that my thoughts are scattered. When I’m in the daily grind I literally can not think deep enough to process big ideas or remember my own processing. It’s later, on the drive home, or in the shower that I have the aha moment of clarity and am able to respond.
It was after returning from a relaxing holiday, where I had all the time in the world to think deeply about things, that I had a very different experience at work. When asked for my opinion on a strategic move I was able to zoom out on the problem and explain the context behind my opinion. In that moment I explained why and how it linked into our bigger organisational goals. I wasn’t just regurgitating a robotic spiel, I was there deep in the problem and agile in my reasoning. I could take on what my colleague was suggesting to create new connections without the usual brain strain I felt at work normally. It was such a bad-ass feeling to be capable of such clear thinking and communication. I was so clear in my mind that self doubt wasn’t an option.
Weeks have passed since my fresh return to work and I feel myself again slipping into old patterns of stress overwhelm and chronic multitasking. Feeling a lack of time and resource my instinct is to do more. With my focus fractured into a million pieces, I can offer only shallow processing to each task. I’m quick to doubt myself and slow to speak up for myself when I’m questioned. Small obstacles seem devastating. I’m making silly mistakes that lead to everything taking longer than if I had just slowed down and found some stillness for my strained brain.
When you’re in the grind of stress you lose sight of yourself, you don’t see that what you’re doing is causing more harm than good. Slowing down seems like a threat so you run faster until you burnout. In order to wake up to yourself before it’s too late you need to take your red flags seriously, or they will get more serious. Yesterday my red flags were silly mistakes, today it’s me pulling out my hair (literally), tomorrow it could be complete exhaustion. Your body is telling you to slow down, so please, listen and honour yourself.
If it feels like you absolutely can not slow down, remember that still waters run deep. The shallow rapids of stress that babble like our racing minds are limiting, ineffective and undermine our creative potential. Creativity requires deep processing and agile reasoning, it requires stillness. Like Ben Howard sings ‘depth over distance every time my dear’.
Choose depth. Choose stillness.
Your Friend,
Buzzy