You Need to Slow Down: How Slowing Down Can Actually Encourage Growth

For the last two years and eight months, I’ve been like Mario – dodging each new COVID variant and numerous potential exposures. Each time a COVID test came back negative, I increasingly wondered if I’d be one of the lucky ones who never had to experience COVID firsthand.

Well, now I’m here to say that streak has ended. I finally got COVID.

This past weekend, rather than heading out to Halloween parties, I stayed home on the couch with my cat, Netflix, a good book, and a box of Kleenex. Though I’d been pushing through all my obligations and continuing to tell myself, “After this week…this weekend…this next project…then I’ll give myself a break, slow down a bit, and re-center” – this was the universe telling me I needed to stop and slow down now.

Why am I here to share this? Because I’ve had it in my head for a while now to share how slowing down can actually help spur growth – and in a much healthier way – but this weekend I realized I haven’t even been taking my own advice lately.

Shifting Your Mindset Shifts Your Path to Success

The last ten months have been about adjusting my mindset to better get in touch with my gut instinct, what works for me (and what doesn’t), and how I can find success in my own way.

This journey started with taking on a daily meditation practice, which I call my daily sits – or going to therapy with myself. As much as I thought I knew myself before – including my likes, dislikes, boundaries, and triggers – this new habit showed me just how much I still had to learn about my own inner workings. It’s also shown me that in order to grow, it often helps to slow down first.

How does slowing down help? When you stop rushing from one task to the next, one place to the next, and one commitment to the next – you actually have a chance to hear your own thoughts. And when you can hear your own thoughts, you’re able to make connections that reveal subconscious motivations – and you’re able to consciously choose which action is right for you to take next.

When you’re constantly plugging away at your to-do list, rushing from one thing to the next, and trying to push yourself to network/email/post/connect/insert-your-most-relevant-task-here – do you ever notice that you start to just feel constantly stressed and anxious? Not only is that not a healthy state in which to live, but urgency and rushing may also be impacting your productivity despite your best efforts to do more.

Windshield Time Isn’t Just for Creatives

I’ve been told plenty of times that as a creative, windshield time is as important as actually sitting down in front of the computer to work. While I agree this is true, I expand it to most professions. Whether you’re a writer, designer, business owner, athlete, or really any profession in which you have some agency over decisions and actions taken, you benefit from windshield time.

Think about it – as a business owner or executive, you’re responsible for making some big decisions about the direction of your company. While it’s important to factor in statistics, customer/client feedback, and other real information, I’d argue it’s equally important to take some “windshield time” to let new ideas come to you. Even if windshield time doesn’t result in a new idea, it can help you pinpoint the right idea.

When your head is racing and worried about what you need to do next, you may fly right past the right thing to do next. Though it feels counterintuitive to take a step back, especially when you have a top-priority problem to handle, it often helps to have a clear head when making any decision.

That’s what slowing down does for you.

Give Yourself a Break

You may feel like you just don’t have time to take a step back and slow down – that’s understandable.

But it’s important to work on finding ways to add in that time and space to your daily routine. What can you cut back on? What do you not need to do every day and could just do some days? What could you delegate to someone else? What should you really just cut out of your daily routine and habits?

What if you…

✔️ Set time limits for social media apps?
✔️ Sat to meditate for 5 minutes in the morning?
✔️ Planned out your week with reasonable tasks for each day?
✔️ Stepped away from your computer at 5pm every day?
✔️ Hired a freelancer to help with work that’s time-consuming and just not your forte?

How you create space in your day depends on what is or isn’t working best for you.

Think about what you love doing – the tasks that put you in a state of flow and make time fly. These are most likely also the tasks that bring the best results for you and your business.

Then think about the rest of your to-do list and consider how to take some of those tasks off your plate or make those processes more efficient and streamlined. Shift habits around to favor those things you love doing (and therefore are most successful at doing) and find ways to bring change to those things that don’t suit you.

Are Writing & Content Strategy Not Your Strengths? I can Help.

Not everyone loves putting the right words together – luckily I do. As a copywriter, content strategist, and web designer, I’m here to help see things through the eyes of your clients so you can easily answer their questions, address their concerns, and tell your story through content. To me, a successful business is as good as the community they’ve built.

This community includes clients, customers, peers, co-workers, contractors, and so much more – all of whom help encourage your growth and the growth of the community overall.

I help keep you connected with your community through strategic & approachable content.