10 top tips to slowing down

With all the best intentions in the world to stay balanced, grounded and not over-do things, it can be so easy to find you’ve fallen back onto that treadmill of never-ending to-do lists, where busyness is a necessity, time is of a scarcity and everything, even putting on the laundry, has to be done in a mild state of panic and urgency. 

I’ve been a life design and career coach for well over a decade, teaching people how to find work-life balance. I even wrote a book on burnout and I still find myself back on that treadmill.

I get hooked on the doing, I convince myself it’s essential, that there is no other way. 

Until I find myself back in that old familiar territory of weariness and exhaustion. A sign that I have yet again over-done it. 

Pushing through will burn you out

Back in the day I used to try and power my way through it. As if sheer determination would get me feeling energised and motivated again.

It didn’t.

All that did was send me diving headfirst into burnout.

You have to listen to your body

Finally after years of being stuck in a cycle of mini-burnouts from over-doing it and not listening to my body, I realised that it was all about listening to my body. That I needed to listen when she told me it was time to slow down and even though the inner Achiever in my wanted to keep pushing forward, I needed to learn WHEN it was time to slow down and HOW to slow down.

So here are my top tips on doing just that…

10 top tips to slowing down

1. Digital detox time

There is nothing that helps create an immediate sense of calm and freedom like switching off ALL of your screens for a set period of time. With a click of a few OFF buttons you immediately unplug from the constant stream of messages and information that keep us racing forwards and instead slip into the slower, far more nourishing stream of the here and now.

2. Get outside

Nothing shows you how to slow down and get back into your own gentle and natural ebb and flow as powerfully as nature does. Spend regular time outdoors, in nature - whether that’s in a park, the hills, by the sea or pottering around in a garden, if you have one. Lean with your back against a tree, put your bare feet against the earth, look up at the sky. Let nature bring you back into balance.

3. Declutter your calendar and create more space to breathe and go slow

If you’re feeling like you’re having to rush around all the time to do all the things that you have on your plate, then I can guarantee you that you have too much on your plate. And you need to do something about that straight away.

Look at how you can reduce, simplify and strip back from the things that are filling up your calendar. What projects can you press pause on as you making slowing down a priority? What can you push further down your time-line? What deadlines can you move to give you more time and more breathing space?

4. Create a list of activities that help you to slow down and do at least one each day

If you’re a naturally high energy, on-the-go kind of a person, then slowing down can sometimes feel quite challenging. So having activities that help you to slow down can be an important part of your slow down kit.

Discover what works for you – slow cooking, a slow mindfulness walk, making things with your hands, gardening, slow movement like tai chi, slow dancing and any meditative activity that fully absorbs your attention and calms your nervous system.

Create a list of activities that help you to unwind and slow down and weave them throughout your week, to keep you flowing in the slow lane.

5. Get everything out of your head

If your sense of panic and urgency comes from trying to remember all the things you have to do and then invariably forgetting things, missing things and losing things…then I hate to sound like my own mother but…you need to get yourself organised.

IT WILL SET YOU FREE.

Because here is a crazy fact: your short term memory can only hold onto seven things at any one time. SEVEN. More than that and it starts to feel stressed and panicked. So if you tend to carry your to-do list around in your head (and I’m willing to bet there are more than seven things on that list), then get yourself a calendar and a paper or digital to-do list system and start getting everything out of your head and into a system where your to-dos are organised and arranged into your calendar with reminder alerts when needed. Life will feel lighter, freer and slower.

6. Create a slow down space in your home

Create a space in your home that is your slow down space. For me it’s the bottom of our garden in the summer where our hammock swings amongst the leaves. The moment I step into that space it’s as if I can feel my heart rate slow right down.

Where could you create a space in your home where you get to feel like that? Could you add a candle, a magazine and some blankets to a corner of your living room and make it your slow down corner? Or if you have an outdoor space could you create a tranquil slow down spot of your own?

Take a look around you and see how you can create a slow down space in your home.
And make sure you spend time in it every day.

7. Focus on the simple pleasures in life

When we’re all caught up focusing on outcome, results, progress and productivity, life can start to feel not only too fast-paced, but also lacking in depth, connection, joy and warmth. And it is. It is only when we slow down, when we literally stop to smell the flowers, that we reconnect in the true beauty and wonder of life, all of which can be found in the simplest pleasures – fresh flowers in your kitchen, sitting in the warm sun with a cup of tea, laughing with a friend, connecting with a stranger, feet in the grass, snuggling down with a good book. Write a list of simple pleasures that bring you joy and as you slow down you’ll start to find you have more time to weave them into your day.

8. Slow down your walking

If you have a tendency to charge about the place like you’re in a speed-walking competition, then next time you find yourself marching furiously down the street, take a beat and s l o w i t d o w n. Imagine you’re on holiday, going on a leisurely stroll in a new town or along the beach – walk at THAT pace. You’ll find that just moving your body in a deliberately slow way will also slow down your racing mind.

9. Journal

If you have a tendency to get caught up in that frenetic and urgent pace of life, spend some time journaling WHY. Explore the beliefs that drive you to being constantly on the go. What is the underlying fear? If you don’t do all the things all of the time, what are you afraid will happen? What are you afraid people will think of you if you slow down, enjoy life and rest more? What were you taught to believe as a child about work, productivity and perhaps the importance of speed and never stopping?

10. Hang out with other people who are enjoying the slow life

We are hugely influenced by the people we hang around with, so trying to shift into a slow and pleasurable lane when everyone around you is all about the hustle, is going to be an uphill struggle. So deliberately hang out with friends who are also slow down rebels and enjoying the simple slowed-down pleasures in life.