How Slowing Down Can Make You More Productive

There’s a lesson I’ve been learning steadily over the course of this summer. Actually I wasn’t so much learning as was getting beaten repeatedly over the head with it. And it’s not so much this summer as basically my entire life, though it reached a fever pitch in the last couple months.

Perhaps it’s because summer is a time of slowness and rest and I was fighting against that with every single fiber of my being. I can’t rest, I indignantly told the tiny voice inside me that dared suggest such a preposterous idea. The voice instantly retreated back deep within, terrified of unleashing the Productivity Beast. Good, the beast purred all self-satisfied and arrogant. Now I can work.

Except something interesting happened. No sooner had the voice retreated that the Productivity Beast realized that all his power had vanished into thin air. Poof.

At first the Productivity Beast tried finding new ways to approach the issue. Changing the location of work, waking up earlier, going to bed earlier, writing to-do lists in 5 different places and sticking them in every possible location. But these were all just temporary fixes.

Eventually, he had to face the uncomfortable truth. The voice that kept gently suggesting some stillness and slowness might actually be necessary for the Beast to survive.

Now there’s a plot twist.

And okay, I’ll stop speaking in weird personifications.

People talk all the time about hustle. The grind never stops. Sleep when you’re dead. And other lovely messages I’m sure you’re all too familiar with because our culture loves inundating us with them. It’s easy to fall into that mentality, especially if your default mode is busy.

But there’s also talk, albeit less pervasive, of flow. That elusive counterpart to hustle that promises simplicity and ease in your endeavors. It’s the opposite of efforting, of pushing. It’s a release, a total surrender to whatever the universe has in store for you.

The kicker is this isn’t giving up. This isn’t throwing in the towel on all your goals. Nor is it the same as sitting with your hands neatly in your lap waiting for the universe to hand you a silver platter of your biggest dreams and goals on it.

It’s simply a calm belief that it will all happen for you, whether you effort or not. So why not enjoy the journey?

I remember freshman year of college feeling so uncomfortable almost every day. I kept feeling that I wasn’t doing enough to make friends, to join clubs, to network. I was constantly efforting and inevitably making myself even more miserable.

I like to think of it as riding a bicycle down a hill. You could keep your feet lightly on the pedals and let momentum take you smoothly down, or you could pedal like crazy, exerting a whole bunch of effort but not going any faster regardless.

I realized that the friends, the clubs, all the right opportunities, they would come to me in due time. I would have to work for them, no doubt, but it would be a different work. It would be work I felt called to do, work that felt right, instead of just hustling for the sake of it. And once I realized that, I was able to release, to give in and fully surrender. And what do you know. Within just a couple weeks and months, my life began to transform. Because something interesting happens when you stop using all your might to push for something.

You actually start noticing the signs around you that tell you what you should put your effort toward. And once you trust those signs and start following their guidance, that’s when the magic truly happens.

This summer I had to learn this lesson all over again, when I found myself with all this free time that I felt I HAD TO spend on working on all my goals. I have to grow my blog and my Instagram. I have to make enough money so that I can save up for studying abroad. I have to travel. I have to start a new project so that I am constantly evolving. I have to put in 30 minutes into Instagram every day to make sure I continue growing. I have to make time for healthy eating and movement.

I’m exhausted even writing it all. And then I wondered why it seemed I never had enough time to get it all done.

And then one day a couple weeks back, just like that day freshman year, I felt that small voice saying, But what if you don’t? What if you just relax?

So I tentatively listened. I told myself it was okay if I didn’t do everything on my to-do list that day.  That it was even okay if I didn’t make a to-do list. (THE HORROR)

And I let myself just flow. To do what felt good instead of what I felt I should do to get closer to my goals. I spent my commutes not engaging on Instagram or editing photos, but reading a book. I went on long morning walks not to listen to podcasts and learn new things, but to just listen to the wind and my thoughts. I made quick meals and didn’t put much time or effort into prepping healthy food for the week. I did more yoga and Pilates and less weight training and HIIT.

And you know what happened?

Everything was fine. It was more than fine, actually. I felt more balanced, more alive and free. I realized that interestingly, everything was still getting done. In fact, I was getting MORE done because after allowing myself some rest in the middle of the day, I felt much more inclined to be productive for a couple hours. And after taking a distraction-free walk, I felt much more connected to my intuition and creativity.

We all know a lunch break in the middle of a work day is important to stay on task and taking a rest day is important for building fitness and avoiding injury or overtraining. Though I am not currently working a 9 to 5 or going to classes, I realized that the same principles apply when I am working on my goals this summer. Otherwise it’s too easy to fall into the trap of busyness and to basically grind yourself into the ground.

Lately I haven’t felt like reading blogs even though usually it’s both my favorite thing to do  in the morning and feels productive because I’m engaging in the blogosphere. So instead I’ve been watching Big Bang Theory as I eat breakfast, which has just felt much better for me. I never used to allow myself that before. Engaging with others’ blogs or others’ Instagram accounts felt like a “productive” way to have a break, while watching Netflix or reading a book wasn’t.

But I realized I really wasn’t feeling good when I was constantly consuming other people’s content. I still love blogs and podcasts and Instagram, but spending all of my free time perusing that just isn’t good for my productivity or state of mind. On those days that I’m constantly flitting from one productive thing to the next, being as busy as possible, I feel much more irritable and resentful. Worst of all, my creative energy is zapped. I have no desire or even ability to write blog posts or take photos, and if I do force myself to, it doesn’t flow. It feels forced and inauthentic. And as someone who tries to live by the values of authenticity, curiosity, and creativity, that just doesn’t work for me.

When I start my day in a way that gets me centered and doing something that truly makes me happy and feels right,  I completely avoid those feelings of irritability, frustration, and resentment. I find that the work flows out of me pretty effortlessly, that I am excited to do it, and perhaps best of all, it takes so much less time to get things done!

And so, paradoxically, I end up being so much more productive and getting so much more done by doing…less. By getting in the flow, not efforting, and allowing myself to do what feels good, I create an environment for myself that is perfect for my creativity to flourish. This place of ease and balance, it’s a great place to be, but it’s hard to hold onto. I know that sometime soon, I will find myself out of alignment again. I will be trying to fill up every free moment with some task or other in the interest of maximizing my productivity.

But for right now, I know that’s not sustainable for me and not what I need to do my best work. So I’ll just try my best to really soak up this slower season and the flow of life without trying to push anything. Que sera, sera. 🙂

 

I want to write more blog posts on this topic, particularly on striking a balance between work and play and basically how to avoid making flow an excuse to be lazy, but please let me know if there’s anything you’d like to hear my thoughts about. This is a topic that is very much on my mind right now, so I would love to talk more about it.

Thanks as always for reading. Love you!