Getting off the 'Busy' Treadmill

This blog post is about the quest for slow. It’s borne out of my own desire to stop, slow down a bit, and get off the treadmill of being continually busy. I hope that my discoveries also benefit you, and together we can learn to give up the habit of being constantly busy, slow down a little, and smell the roses.

Have you ever noticed how often these days when someone asks us how we are, we say ‘I’ve been busy’ or something similar? As though this is something to be proud of, a badge of honour that shows we’re making a significant contribution. How much of our days are filled with doing? Where is the space for just ‘being’?. What is the cost of the constant ‘busyiness’, in our relationships, our health, the level of fun in our lives?

Some questions…. 

• When was the last time you spent time reflecting on what is most important to you in your life; looked at the big picture, instead of being caught up in the daily detail?

• When was the last time you took time out and did something indulgent just for you?

• How much time is built into your week for reflection and for recharging?

We live in a world where we tend to feel guilty for doing nothing, and cram so much into our lives that we leave no time to truly relax and reflect. Start giving yourself permission on a regular basis to sit and do nothing more than just think. It’s only when we get off the treadmill of stressed-out and busy that we can start to hear our intuition and life begins to flow.

Some exercises….

Take half a day or a day off to just reflect. Enjoy it. Do the activities in our previous newsletters – vision, values – and spend some time figuring out what is really important to you and what is just mere clutter.

• I am currently evaluating my activities based on the following 4 quadrants, and you might find them useful too:

  • Things that I love to do that also make me money – spend the most time here

  • Things that I don’t much like to do but are a necessary part of my business (ie they make me money) – look for opportunities to delegate, set up systems that get them done quickly with less effort

  • Things that I love to do that don’t make me money (passions, time out, contribution) – enjoy them and don’t feel guilty spending some time here

  • Things that I don’t like to do and don’t make me money (time wasters, ‘shoulds’) – kick to touch!!!

Note: You can replace money with any other measure you wish to use – contribution, health – just use your common-sense to tweak where necessary.

• Make a list of 10 daily pleasures that would bring you joy. Start incorporating these into your life, including any that feel far too indulgent. We only live once after all, and I know I certainly wouldn’t want to go out, having denied myself simple pleasures because I was just too busy!

• Remind yourself that there’s plenty of time to get everything important done. ‘I am effortlessly achieving all that I need to today’. Reframe how you think about the day and how busy it’s going to be, and you’ll find that suddenly miraculously, days just seem to get easier and less busy.