In this fast-paced world, do we feel like we’re constantly being rushed? Hurried? Expected to keep up with an insane pace? The real question… do we want to be??? Here’s a reminder to STOP the madness! Let’s step off the merry-go-round, away from the dizzying pace. Let’s step onto solid ground, where we can take a breath, take our time, and be more deliberate. Where we will find BALANCE with urgency and mindfulness in our work, and in our lives! If we think rushing our work will make us more productive, think again! Here are some major pitfalls of ” the hurry”, especially when it comes to our jobs and our work. – Oversights and mistakes. It will take LONGER to do all things, because we missed something or will have to fix something. – Reduced productivity. Fixing mistakes ultimately cuts into our time for productivity. – Poor decision making. Without taking time for proper thought, unfavorable outcomes abound! – Increased stress. This will potentially, if not certainly, have a mental and physical impact. We will not be 100%. At all! – Lowered creativity. Without a relaxed state of mind and physical well-being, we stifle innovation, ideas and improvements. Not a great collection of pitfalls, is it? Do ANY of these sound familiar??? Can we consider a different approach? “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. Read that again…and again. Maybe jot that down on a post-it! I love this phrase! Commonly attributed to the US Navy SEALS, it emphasizes the importance of taking deliberate and precise actions to achieve efficiency and speed in the LONG RUN. Sure, it asks us to act more consciously, which can be challenging, unaccustomed to that as we are. Considering we live in a world where we are constantly being forced to stay on the surface, do more, and HURRY UP! No more! Blame over! We need to pivot from that. Take the opposite approach. Try to slow it down…Let’s see if we can form a new GOOD HABIT, of more awareness in what we are doing, not just going through the motions, at a break-neck pace. It’s stupid! Here is WHY this is worth it! (Pretty much the opposite of that horrible list above): – Improved quality of work. Output will be of higher quality, and at a steady pace, avoiding mistakes because we can focus on detail. – MORE productivity of high-quality work. This speaks for itself. – Better decision making. We can take the time to make informed decisions, weigh options, consider potential outcomes. Most decisions should never be rushed! – Reduced stress. Fosters better mental and physical health. No one wants to be impaired by work! – Enhanced creativity. Allowing ourselves more time to explore ideas and solutions. We can go deeper! This one gets forgotten… Not to mention the opportunities for learning and growth that lie within taking our time. The ability to SEE things we never slowed ourselves to notice. Think about that for a minute! Just because the world keeps trying to convince us otherwise, let’s not deny ourselves our willful option of rejecting that! Let’s take charge of our pace. Take charge of our time, and what we do with it! How we WANT to spend it. Be as thorough as we want to be! Find the balance, because we must! Increased productivity will come, and we will find fulfillment there. Sounds pretty great to me! What do you think? |