A Little Less Hurry
September has a way of speeding things up. Diaries fill, emails multiply and suddenly everyone seems to want something done yesterday. Before we know it, we are rushing from one thing to the next and wondering where the day went.
But does all that hurry actually help us?
When Hurry Becomes a Habit
We often rush when there is no real need to. We eat quickly, walk quickly, answer an email while doing something else and mentally move on to the next job before we have finished the one in front of us.
The trouble is that our minds and bodies do not necessarily distinguish between genuine urgency and the urgency we create for ourselves. Constantly feeling rushed can keep us tense and distracted, and it certainly does very little for our stress levels.
Everything Cannot Be Urgent
Some things really are urgent. Most things are not.
It can be surprisingly useful to stop occasionally and ask, “Does this actually need doing now?” Sometimes the answer will be yes. But sometimes it can wait until this afternoon, tomorrow, or perhaps it does not need doing at all.
We have become rather good at filling every available space in the day. A spare ten minutes becomes an opportunity to check emails or squeeze in another task. Yet those little spaces used to be where we caught our breath, gathered our thoughts or simply looked out of the window.
Finding a Better Pace
A little less hurry does not mean becoming unproductive. Quite the opposite. When we are calmer, we often think more clearly, listen better and make fewer mistakes.
So perhaps this September, rather than trying to fit even more into the day, we could leave a little room around the edges.
Not everything needs to be done at speed.
And life should not always feel like something we are trying to catch up with.
