Can You Do It Slower?
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
~ Winnie the Pooh
Hurry Through This
As I wind down for the day, I flip through my podcast queue. I want something interesting to listen to as I tidy up the house, brush my teeth, and get ready for bed.
If I hurry through these tasks now, I can squeeze in more time later to read my stack of books.
I find the podcast episode on The Drive that my friend Kay recommended about time, productivity, and purpose. It sounds perfect for me. I check my settings to listen at 2x speed, and plug in my earbuds.
As it begins, I become more curious about what I’m doing as I listen . . . and scurry about.
I identify the tension: Hurrying is uncomfortable. But not finishing things is also uncomfortable. When you think you have more to do than time to do it, shouldn’t you speed up?
I get lost in the thought and miss a few minutes of the podcast. I’m not concentrating well. I rewind, and reduce the speed I’m listening from 2x to 1.5x.
This is still normal, right? To rush through a podcast about not rushing?
Think About Your 4,000 Weeks
I continue listening as the host Peter Attria interviews his guest Oliver Burkeman about Burkeman’s bestseller, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.
I remember reading the book when it was first published in 2021. It felt profound to me then and I’ve since returned to it over and over. [I wrote about it here, and about my friend who didn’t get his 4,000 weeks. The book also made my list of 7 New Books to Make You a Better Person.]
But maybe the lessons have worn off?
I remain curious as the discussion continues in the podcast.
- About the struggle we have with the finite nature of time (definitely!)
- About how productivity often turns into a trap (been there)
- About the myth that if we can be more efficient, we’ll have more time and feel more in control (for sure)
I relate to each item.
“Productivity is a trap. Becoming more efficient just makes you more rushed (and also lonelier). Trying to clear the decks simply makes them fill up again faster.”
By now I’m more than curious. I’m convicted.
If You Slow Down . . .
I adjust the setting of the podcast one final time: from 1.5x to 1x, the normal speed of the conversation as they were speaking it, and the correct speed I need to process what I’m hearing. The message for me in this episode deserves more attention.
But slowing down feels counterintuitive to accomplishing what I want.
- Projects will be left unfinished.
- Podcasts will go unheard.
- Blog posts will go unwritten.
Yet when I slow down, I do notice more. I savor more. I feel more rested. I actually feel more joy. Maybe I’m not designed for super speed. I’m made for my own pace, a Lisa-pace.
I finish the podcast. I pull up highlights I wrote in 2021 from Four Thousand Weeks. Oliver Burkeman’s words come to life again as I read:
“What’s needed is a kind of anti-skill: not the counterproductive strategy of trying to make yourself more efficient, but rather a willingness to resist such urges—to learn to stay with the anxiety of feeling overwhelmed, of not being on top of everything, without automatically responding by trying to fit more in.”
Instead of pushing away the angst of “too much to do” by doing more, surrender to it.
“Choose uncomfortable enlargement over comfortable diminishment whenever you can.”
Make peace with the discomfort of never finishing. Delete a few projects altogether. Burn a few bridges of tasks impossible to complete.
“We’ll do almost anything to avoid burning our bridges, to keep alive the fantasy of a future unconstrained by limitation, yet having burned them, we’re generally pleased that we did so.”
Accepting our limitations is progress towards growth.
Then . . . Stop
And at the end of the day? Stop. Even with tabs still open, emails unfinished, and kitchen uncleaned.
“Be willing to stop when your daily time is up, even when you’re bursting with energy and feel as though you could get much more done.”
I’ll never be on top of it all. No matter how fast I run or how efficient I operate. Completing it all is an illusion, a false promise of certainty and security.
I delete a few more newsletter subscriptions, a few more podcasts, return a few more unfinished books. My present moments are limited and used best when unhurried.
Freedom comes when I lay down doing more things, and focus on doing fewer things, the ones that matter the most to me.
Slow down to live more.
I’ll still listen to some podcasts at 1.5x speed and even 2x speed, but when it really matters, I hope I’ll slow down to 1x more often. How’s your speed?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
Read more about time:
- Are You Uncomfortable Filling Your Calendar with Empty Spaces?
Open your calendar. Do you have enough empty spaces? Can you add more? - What Time Is It? Now
Is focusing on the now always wise? How can we find balance between thinking about the past, present, and future? - Don’t Look Away. These 5 things will happen to you too.
At first glance, these five things feel too negative to think about. But not thinking about them is worse.
Adding more to our “things to do” list is so detrimental to our health and overall well-being. I’ve tried to purposefully slow down so I can embrace the day’s events with grace and less urgency. It truly calms the heart.
Blessings, Lisa!
That’s a wonderful practice, Martha. Reducing my to-do list every day is something I have to continually work on. It’s easier to add to it than take things away, unfortunately.
This is wonderful advice, and I love all these thoughts and quotes. Slowing down is difficult for me, but I know that the more I can do it, the more I can savor and learn and appreciate, as you mention. I can give my whole focus to something, and I can even just give my brain rest during “downtime” activities like brushing my teeth (which I am still not very good at). I’m Pinning this post to save and share it. I’ve also added it to my “time management” resources page at my blog https://lifetalesbooks.blogspot.com/p/need-time.html Visiting from Happy Hearts & Homes.
Slowing down is difficult for me, too, Jennifer. I relate to what you’re saying about trying to give your brain more rest time. I especially have to remind myself at night when I’m supposed to be sleeping: just rest; it’s time to let things go and just be. Easier said than done though…
Recently I read a book about living the un-hurried life, as Jesus did. It challenged me of what it really means to follow Jesus, who was not in a hurry, yet He had a big goal to accomplish! I’d like to live more in the unfolding, rather than “push the envelope,” so to speak.“Choose uncomfortable enlargement over comfortable diminishment whenever you can.” I love that! Thank you for sharing.
That’s a great example to mention, Lynn. If Jesus could live unhurried, why do I think my much less consequential tasks are so important to hurry through? I’m forever a work in progress with this. Thanks for sharing.
Four Thousand Weeks is a wonderful book that I think about often too. I still find it hard to break the lifelong habit of trying to be as “productive” as possible each day. Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Glad it’s not just me. 🙂 Sometimes our modern culture seems to prize efficiency and productivity above all else, so it’s so easy to slip into that mindset. I should likely do a re-reading of Four Thousand Weeks every year (if only I were more efficient I could make time for that. Oops, there’s that thinking again. lol).
There’s always more to do than can be done, and it’s such a struggle to know what to give up on and what to faster. I actually gave myself permission recently to get rid of books stacked up on my shelves that I haven’t read yet. I felt obligated to keep them, either because I had paid for them or they were gifts. But I have a to-be-read list that will outlive me, so I may as well keep it for those books I think I’ll actually enjoy.
Thanks for sharing about getting rid of some books, Barbara. I should follow your lead and do that, too. I have a few books that I’ve kept for years, unread, just because someone gave them to me, thinking I’ll eventually get around to them. But it’s time to let them go to increase a feeling of spaciousness in space and time.
I smiled at your last statement because I often say it too, that my to-be-read books are already much longer than the years I have left to read them.
“Accepting our limitations is progress towards growth.”…well, I neede to hear that. I’ve learned it to a degree with having a chronic illness for 20 years, but there’s still a need be reminded of it. I need to copy those words on a 3×5 card and put it up where I can see it often! Thanks, Friend!
I need to remind myself more often too that limitations come with the territory. Being human means we can only be in one place at one time doing one thing at a time. You’d think I’d have come to peace with that by now. 🙂 Thanks for using a piece of your time to visit here, Dianna.
Oh…
Your admission that you will “never be on top of it all” feels like gravel in my teeth, but I know the truth of it. And heaven forbid that we stop listening to the voices of our dear ones because they don’t come at 2X speed!
I know; there are times I want to push the “speed” button on a person in real life. lol. Glad that isn’t possible! (yet anyway; who knows about the future)
I love how you’ve shared Being verses Doing here Lisa with Oliver Burkeman’s book, which sounds fascinating.
Letting go is the hardest thing for us to do, especially women who have raised children, run their own households, worked & ministered while doing so. But it’s necessary.
Blessings, Jennifer
Yes, it is hard to let go of doing when it feels so productive. But I’m thankful that being is just as worthy, even if we can’t always see “results” from it.
Such a good reminder and love how it correlated to you slowing down the speed of the podcast. Been there too. I had to slow down yesterday as my cold caught up with me and I declared it a sick day and nothing would be done but rest. Best decision ever as today I feel better. I decided though this morning to ease back into the day – no rushing and then read your post – quite an affirmation!
Glad you felt better after a day of rest, Jean. That is always clear confirmation that you did the right thing. I wish everything gave us such clear signals so quickly. I think I’d slow down more if I got quicker affirmation–ironic, yes? 🙂
So many great, convicting thoughts here, Lisa! I especially like “Make peace with the discomfort of never finishing.” Wow, I definitely needed to hear that this morning. I also like to listen to my audiobooks and podcasts at 1.5 speed and have recently forced myself to slow down since I was noticing I was missing so much. In the last 1.5 years of now having two young kids, I have needed to embrace “single-tasking” where I am focused on one thing at a time so I don’t get so distracted and forgetful. If I give 100% to that task, I usually can finish it sooner and get on with my life rather than keeping it on my to-do list for days or weeks because I am only hopping from one thing to another, trying to do too much at once. I have also slowed down my overall reading a lot the last two years since I wanted to read more for transformation rather than mere information. It has been humbling and hard at times because there are so many great books, but it has also been such a delight since I am more intentional with the books I choose and they have all been worth the slower pace! I feel when I slow down and am aware of my limitations and realize I lose charge/power, I am more quick to go to my power source. I wrote more about this today on the blog, if interested. Trying to preach to myself this over and over in this busy season as a young mama!
I’m glad you’re so aware of where your attention needs to lie with two young kids, Elena. Sometimes they give you no choice! lol. But other times it’s tempting to scroll on a phone or even get more housework done instead of keeping your eyes on the prize of their tender years that pass so quickly.
It’s very hard for me to single-task, even though all the experts say it’s really more efficient. Sigh. I guess sometimes I prefer variety over efficiency, which I suppose is totally fine too. 🙂
I like what you said about Lisa-time. It made me think about my own time, and then my mind automatically rebelled. It seems much of my life I was told I wasn’t moving fast enough, so I associate Ashley-time with moving too slowly. It makes me realize how my whole mindset has shifted to more more more. Thank you for this wonderful reminder, Lisa. You always have good advice.
It’s hard to break that mindset of more, more, more, and faster, faster, faster. But it’s so detrimental to our mental and emotional health. I keep having to work on it myself, Ashley. Hope you’re doing well, friend!
This is a great message! I truly need to slow down, but a lot of times I just don’t know how.
I hear you, Lyndsey. Sometimes I think I just don’t have time to slow down. Finding the right speed of life is a moving target for me.
Your post resonated with me this morning. Why do we find the need to multitask? Don’t we realize that attempting to do more than one thing at a time does not do justice to any of the tasks? Yet, we persist in an effort to do it all.
I’d guess most of us are guilty of trying to do too many things at one time at various stages of life anyway. Maybe we have too much FOMO and just don’t want to miss anything. But the reality is we DO miss out when we have to multitask through life. It’s a learning curve for me!
Lisa: Since I had an injury and two unrelated surgeries in 2020 and 2921, I have learned to live one day at a time. But now, I feel I need to do some things to get my life back on track. Today was a day it did some things I needed to finish, sending Easter cards to shut-ins connected to our church and dusted most of my wooden furniture in our living room. This evening, I have some more things in mind that I have to finish.
I’m so sorry that you have such rough years with two unrelated surgeries, Cecelia! That’s hard stuff. I hope that your path forward will be more smooth as you step back into doing more things. Give yourself all the grace you need! I love the things you chose to do: sending cards and dusting furniture; I need to do both of those as well. 🙂
This is SO GOOD, Lisa! I am late reading this because it was published on my first cataract surgery day and then it got lost until after the second one and a few other assorted delays. Our culture has encouraged us if we were born before ??? to be productive as a way of showing our success and assorted other things that sounds like we should be pursuing them at all times without counting the cost. Repeat this post again because it will take a bit to sink in for most of us.????