Slowing Down Before You Speed Up

No this isn’t a typo, nor is it an oxymoron – I consider this a fact.  If you find yourself feeling like you have to much to do and not enough time to do it, you’ll probably be really stressed.

When you’re this stressed it’s most likely that your mind won’t actually let you focus on the task at hand.  Instead, the only thing your mind will be focusing on is how you have to get “this” done now while not thinking about how you are going to get it done.

Circle back to the title of this article and this is where slowing down comes into place.

If you want to focus, you need to have a clear to-do list and be willing to adjust your to-do list regularly as things change!

First, you need to organize your thoughts somewhere, paper, notepad, to-do list software, etc…  Once you have the list of things you need to accomplish, it’s probably a good idea to prioritize them.

For me personally, I don’t always put the highest priority first.  Don’t get me wrong, these are very near the top; however, there might be some high priority items that will only take a few minutes each.  E.g. respond to an email, go and speak with a team member, etc…  I like doing these items first as they are often the ones that creep up when I’m trying to focus on what I need to do.

Not only do I ensure other people are focused (allowing me to focus) I potentially have really quickly scratched 4 or 5 items from my laundry list of things to do.

Now that my to-do list is done and prioritized it’s time to speed up.  I don’t need to let anything needless deter my mind from the tasks at hand.  It’s on my list; I’ll get to it as soon as I finish my other tasks.

So remember, when you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed and feel like you are standing still when you need to be moving a 100 miles per hour; slow down for a minute, focus yourself by creating your to-do list.  Once this is done, it’s time to go 100 miles per hour and knock off your to-do list!