Author: Steven Aitchison (399 Articles)
The owner of this blog. Proud father, doting husband, blogger, hire me as freelance writer, and addiction worker
Sometimes it’s an absolute nightmare trying to juggle everything we
have to do in a day. In the world we live in today we are available 24
hours a day. We work longer hours and take in much more information through
TV, newspapers, iPods, DABs, the internet, smartphones, billboards, magazines,
letters, junk mail, and e-mail to name but a few. Its information overload
and we are trying to juggle all this with our work, family, and playtime.
Our brains are amazing and we are amazing as a species. However sometimes
we’ve got to give our brains a helping hand and say enough is enough.
Here are some 6 tips to slow down the mad world for a few
minutes a day;
- Give yourself ten minutes at home and at work before checking your e-mails. This
allows your brain that little bit longer to get into the swing of things
and to prepare it for the day ahead. - Take a lunch break. Make this a priority; I am amazed at how many
people don’t take a lunch break. I make it a priority to take
an hour (54 minutes to be precise) every day. Turn off your
mobile and go somewhere other than the office, this splits the day in half
and it will set you up for the second half. - If you are out and about all the time in the car, pull over to a nice
spot, turn the phone off and just read for ten minutes or absorb the scenery. Despite
what you think 10 minutes can be excused no matter how important you think
you are to the company. - Delegate as much as you can and concentrate on the important tasks. This
is easier said than done, but try asking someone to do something for you;
a voluntary agency, your children, your friends, your work colleagues etc. - Make a ‘to do list’ every morning and prioritise your work
and tasks for the day. This gives a huge sense of satisfaction when
jobs are completed and also motivates you to keep going. - If it’s too much just stop doing it. I recently took on too
many jobs at once and was halfway into a project and I realised I was stressing
myself, I was cranky with my family and it was because I had taken on too
much. I decided to end a project for building a website for someone
and apologised profusely and gave him back the money. He was
not happy at all and told me so. I felt really bad but at the same
time it was a weight lifted and a lesson learned.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I too think the world could slow down quite a bit for all of us. I’d like to share a website with you.
It is getting some fun responses right now. It asks for you to state something that you would like to change or create to make a difference in our community. It is aimed to stir up conversation and perhaps allow other readers to respond back if they can help make that change possible.
The address is http://www.DoSomethingBlog.com
I think it would be great to get a comment from youself or other readers.
Everybody needs a break. It would be a very stressful day if you don’t have one. It’s the main highlight of my day. Like any student waiting for the bell to ring. Free again to do anything.
I always enjoy articles on enjoying life more instead of rushing around. I catch myself living in the future instead of this present moment. I have an article about slowing down the internal body speed, so we can enjoy the small things.
It’s at http://www.mindbodyblog.com/2006/05/08/slow-down-my-internal-body-speed/
Check it out if you have a chance.
Karl Staib
Thanks for the comments and the links.
Shawna I added a comment, an interesting comment list.
Karl i had a look at your post. It’s strange, when I am i the gym on the running machine I have learned to tell my body to slow down whilst running at the same speed, very matrix like, I am working on an article about it.
Alan, you’re right and I hope you’re taking all the breaks you’re entitled to?
Lunch breaks are indeed important. Besides that it is a good source of a nice break from a stressful work, it is needed by our body to stay healthy. I wonder how those people who don’t eat lunch feel after defying the need to feed.
Great tips. I would add that you should learn to juggle and do it for 5 minutes everyday. It’s fun, stress relieving, and can even make you smarter.
There is a young woman in Michigan (I think) who is living for a few months using only the technology and conveniences that were commonly available in 1950. It is for her graduate thesis.
She said once she got rid of her TV and Internet, she was amazed at how much time she had left over to read, write letters, and spend time with friends.
Delegation is one of the harder things for some personality types to implement. The feeling of the need to have complete control of a project or task can prevent some from allowing themselves to catch a breath. Delegation not only clears a small part of your plate, but it also allows others to have a part in a successful project.
Ah, #6 rings true for me. For years, I would take on a work load that I could barely complete, especially at the level of perfection that I held myself to. Then, one day, I just stopped. I decided to cut off everything that was producing, what I felt was, unacceptable levels of stress. Eventually it felt really, really good, but at first, I had to get over the feeling of defeat.
But when you think about it, there’s nothing gained by an early death — one that is produced by a stress related illness (which is pretty much any disease that you can think of).