Find Your Anti-Busyness Equation With These Hacks to Slow Down Your Life
In the post-pandemic age, our lives have become an adaptation of the Fast and the Furious movies minus the cool cars, exotic locations, and all the adventures and excitement. Don’t get us wrong. Many people have established a solid work-life balance to live their best lives. However, it seems like the current state of work is gradually propelling us towards a culture of speed and precision at a personal cost.
On the surface, the purpose of this cultural shift is to make us faster, more efficient, and more productive. However, research has shown that the accelerated pace of life and work impacts our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
The modern generation, which typically comprises millennials and gen X-ers, is more burned out and stressed than their older counterparts. Due to greater costs of living, rapid technology integration, and socio-economic developments, there’s more hustle and bustle on every level of the market, from Wall Street to Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, and street vendors.
It’s ironic that even with all the technologies and solutions in the world designed to help us save time and do more things, we’re becoming busier every year.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can rebel against your hectic lifestyle and overworked routines and slow things down. In this post, we’ll help readers understand the science of urgency and impatience and overcome it with six anti-busyness hacks.
Understanding the Science of Urgency
Have you ever wondered why you’re impatient when waiting for something or always in a hurry to get from A to B? For instance, when you’re stuck in traffic on the way to work, in line at a grocery store, or waiting for your meal at a restaurant, you get frustrated, annoyed, or even enraged. You start scrolling through your phone unnecessarily, checking the time after every minute that passes or moving impatiently, thinking about wasted time.
This is a common trait that people naturally pick up during their professional and personal lives. It creates a false sense of not having enough time. A few studies refer to this as “the Hurry Sickness,” while others moderately describe it as an overwhelming sense of urgency.
For some people, this feeling is temporary. Whereas, for others, it’s continuous and leads them to believe they’re chronically short of time in everything they do. This leads to procrastination and stress as our body secretes more adrenaline and cortisol than required as we try to make things happen more quickly.
Find Your Anti-Busyness Equation with these 6 Life Hacks
Every person is different. Some of us won’t mind working thirty minutes longer at work but would freak out if their Uber driver arrives a few minutes late. Similarly, many of us would skip breakfast and rush off to work in a frenzy, which would cause a rampage if lunch or dinner is delayed.
Finding your anti-busyness equation is about slowing down consciously in different aspects of life. For some people, this could be as simple as quitting multi-tasking and focusing on one thing at a time. Meanwhile, for others, it could be about making time for leisure or recreation activities or cutting some of their workloads to create a better work-life balance.
However, no matter how simple it may seem, any long-term change or habit development requires a transition period. Therefore, here are six anti-busyness hacks that could help you slow down, unwind, and de-stress from time to time:
1. Disconnect from People, Work, and Things Temporarily
One of the biggest reasons we tend to live life at a million miles per hour is that we’re always plugged into something, whether it’s our work, our devices, or even conversations and interactions with certain people (friends, co-workers, or family).
When it comes to work, many professionals, especially those working tough routines with rapid workflows, opt out of taking time off even when they’re sick or need a break. As work environments become more competitive, taking leaves or going on a vacation is considered by keen employees as a risk to their overall performance.
Fortunately, times have changed since the Great Resignation in 2021, with employees quitting their jobs if employers don’t meet their pay, benefits, and cultural requirements. Therefore, unplugging the system temporarily is no longer considered taboo.
Rejuvenation is one of the best ways to improve productivity. Similarly, our constant connection with social media and smartphones is leading us to waste hours in a day. Consequently, we unnecessarily delay our tasks and obligations and then work on fumes to get everything done.
So, it’s okay not to know what your friends are up to by constantly checking Facebook or Instagram or what’s happening in the world. Limit your phone time and spend more time in the real world.
Finally, disconnecting from people is a great way to improve interpersonal relationships. Limiting your social interactions can improve your focus, sleep, and productivity. Moreover, you can avoid feelings of depression, anxiety, envy, and regret by paying more attention to your life and personal development.
2. Increase Your Time Estimates
Remember that one task that you thought you’d complete in an hour but ended up taking two hours? No matter how hard you try, it’s difficult to anticipate how long something is going to take. Oversimplification or underestimation could ruin your day by adding unnecessary stress. Sure, you might think you’re being reasonable or realistic.
However, it’s better to allow yourself to feel like you’re not working on a time crunch. So, if a task takes a couple of hours, grant yourself an extra thirty minutes. This will ensure smooth sailing by limiting errors and accounting for any distractions during the period.
3. Reduce Your Work or Daily Obligations
How can anyone slow down when they have a million things to do every day? So, if you want to slow down, the best thing you can do is stop being a work mule and start saying no. This is undoubtedly a difficult thing to do, depending upon your work environment. However, it’s worth the risk.
A healthier workload will allow you to work at a normal pace, take necessary breaks between tasks or activities, and finish on time. This way, you’ll have more fuel in the tank for leisure activities and socialization with friends and/or family.
4. Improve Your Punctuality
One of the main reasons we’re always in a rush is tardiness. Of course, in many cases, it’s not our fault, and we become victims of things we can’t control. Whether it’s an accident, car breakdown, or any other emergency, we often fail to get to places on time, and that’s okay.
However, being late all the time is not. When you fail to arrive somewhere or commence a task on time, you’re reducing the time you have to complete it. As a result, you rush, make mistakes, miss deadlines, or fail to get things done indefinitely.
Therefore, a great way to slow down is by improving your punctuality. The best way to do this is to give yourself a head start and be proactive. For instance, you can ensure you have everything ready for the next day or the night before. Or, you could get up an hour earlier to run errands, have breakfast at home, or plan your to-do list.
Moreover, leaving your workplace early can help you beat the traffic or avoid being late even if you’re stuck for a long time.
5. Appreciate Your Surroundings
A lot of us are so immersed in our routines and devices that we forget everything happening around us. Therefore, to slow down, we have to appreciate nature, the people in our lives, and even ourselves for everything we have.
This could be as simple as taking a stroll in your neighborhood in the morning or going to a park. On weekends, you can go on camping, hiking, or fishing trip with your family or friends to connect more with nature. These small pleasures and getaways will help you take a break from work and other obligations to rejuvenate and de-stress.
6. Start Doing Things Slowly
Another reason we tend to have a rocket attached to our backs all the time is that we tend to do everything like we’re running a race. It’s no surprise that some of us take two-minute showers, cram down food in seconds, and drive a hundred miles per hour. This hasty attitude is taking the enjoyment out of everything.
So, try taking a bath once in a while and enjoy the soothing experience. Similarly, make eating a social experience and enjoy every bite of your meal. If you live alone, try to eat with a side of entertainment. For instance, you can watch a TV show or movie or listen to a podcast. The idea is to spend more time eating and be mindful of each bite and the different ingredients, flavors, and textures on the plate.
Conclusion
Use these six anti-busyness hacks to slow down your life and reduce stress, anxiety, and other negative feelings. Protecting yourself from things that affect your physical, mental, and emotional well-being is important for being productive. The world is moving at an unprecedented pace, especially following the pandemic. There’s more hustle and bustle on the streets than ever before.
However, even if we can’t slow down the world, we can pump the brakes on our routines and lifestyles to rejuvenate, become more self-aware, and improve our work-life balance.
