Slowing Down To – Well – Slow Down
.
An aphorism I hear in the business world is Slowing Down to Speed Up. A quick google search on the phrase pulls up articles from Forbes, Huffington Post, Linkedin, and a bevy of other blog posts. No doubt there is some neat paradigm shifting and paradox straddling that might attract some open minded types. But, to my sensibilities the idea that we can speed up by slowing down sounds pretty foolish. I’m going to skip the new math that these kind of ditties seem to require in favor of something that feels like it lines up clearly with the intention.
To my sensibilities the idea that we can speed up by slowing down sounds pretty foolish.
Click To Tweet
I’m at a place in life where the needle has been hanging in the red for a little bit too long. After much prodding from my dear wife, I’ve found my feet and I’m going to be taking on some changes in life. My intention is to be slow on every front, including the changes themselves.
Don’t Look At Me
The next thing I need to say is that I suck at this. I’m writing this at the inauguration of one of many fits and starts I’ve made in life towards a less cluttered and mindful life. I’m not putting this out there in an attempt to impress upon you that I’m a guru in minimalism or some other mindful living movement. I’m letting you know because the change will affect our relationship. One of the easiest ways for me make good on my goal of slowing down, is to reduce my output here at www.andrewfurst.net.
On December 1st, I will be slowing down. To, – well – slow down.
On December 1st, I will be slowing down. To -well - slow down.
Click To Tweet
What does that mean? For you the reader, it means that I will be shifting from at least one article a day, to one article every three days. I’ll also be changing the frequency of my email notifications to subscribers. So by extension, I’m inviting you to slow down. Of course I have no delusions that there are people who wait on each new article (another good reason to slow down), but what my reduction in output offers you is a decrease in input. While we don’t always have control over the fire hose of life, this will be one less thing.
Why I Decided to Change
That’s a question I’ll be writing about over the next few weeks and months. Like anything else, there are causes and conditions for change. My desire to slow down was prompted by a lot of things coming together at this particular point in my life. Here’s a list of what I see as contributing factors. As always there are probably more that I’m I’m failing to acknowledge.
Job Change Time – I’m changing jobs very soon. It feels like that transition will put me in a place where my life and habits will be most malleable.
I’m (really) out of shape – The nature of my job and my interests have kept me in a chair and in front of a computer screen for huge swaths of my day. That’s not healthy.
Family – My family needs my attention – this is probably the most important reason.
Missing Out on Life – I feel like I’m often hurrying from one thing to another, missing out on the important small pleasures in life
Getting the Right Stuff Done – I need to make sure that I’m getting the important stuff done first.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll try to share some of my goals, approaches, successes, and failures. They’ll be coming slowly, but today, that’s a good thing. Here’s to change.
A short series on slowing down. I'll be sharing some of the things I've been doing to pare my life down so I can focus on the things that I think are impoirtant.
Slowing Down - Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing. - Benjamin Franklin
Subscribe to Receive Monthly Updates
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
The post Slowing Down To – Well – Slow Down written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
