The Art of Slowing Down and a slow living lifestyle isn’t about doing nothing and being lazy. It is intentional living where you are aware of what you are doing and how you are doing it, then taking action.

It is the norm in today’s society to be more productive and efficient. Both couples work a full-time job, you get up early and rush through your day trying to get everything done. If we stop for a moment and evaluate our lifestyle, are we really more productive?

Our to do list keeps getting longer as we pile on more things to do in every day. Take a moment to evaluate everything on your to do list for today or tomorrow. How important is everything on that list? Does it all HAVE to be done that day?

When we judge our day by a list of accomplishments, we are continually striving for more. This adds stress to our life that we put on ourselves. Except for a bad boss or coworkers, it is our own fault for most of the stress in our life. I know this because this used to be my way of thinking too. We lose track of the days, months, and years and wonder where the time went.

It is not until we practice intentional living and the art of slow living that we begin to be more mindful of how we are spending our days and how we can make each day so much better. When we do this, we greatly reduce our stress, sleep better, and find gratitude for the small things in our life. One of the side benefits of slow living and being mindful of our day is that we also become more productive as we concentrate on the important tasks of the day and let the trivial and unnecessary tasks go.

Time is a precious commodity in our life and something you can’t get back. The clock keeps ticking no matter what we are doing. Slowing down and being more intentional with your time will help you to make the most of your time and your days.

So how do we practice the art of slowing down? We do this with slow mindful living where we are conscious of what we are doing throughout our day.

There are several ways you can purposefully slow down your day to be more mindful of how you are spending it. Let’s take a look at some of the ways to practice the art of slowing down.

Identify the most important tasks in your day

Just a little planning of your day can help you identify the must-do most important tasks that you need to accomplish that day. Once you do this you will see that most other things are unimportant and probably don’t need to be done today unless you get done with the important tasks early.

This planning will reduce your workload and also your stress as you now concentrate on only the few tasks that absolutely need to be done today.

Avoid distractions that waste your time

TV, our phones, and the Internet can be a huge waste of our time if we are not conscious of it and regulate our time on them. That is not to say that sometimes a nice relaxing day of binge watching our favorite show or Youtube channel lets us unwind and chill. Doing this every day can be a huge waste of time and drastically cut into your productivity.

Worrying about things in the future and having regrets of the past are also a big drain on your time and serve no productive purpose. It will also lead to increased stress that is unnecessary.

It’s OK to miss out

Ever plan a vacation and fill each day with events to do? When your vacation is done you are exhausted from running around accomplishing everything on your plan. Take time to just relax and take in what the area has to offer. Enjoy a relaxing day at the beach or at a park. Enjoy the company of others.

It’s OK to miss out on some things. Leave something to see for the next time you visit.

Staycations have become more popular as they offer a chance to save money and take time to relax and refresh.

Plan for a task to take twice the time that you initially plan

It’s human nature to underestimate how much time it takes to complete a task. We usually don’t account for things that will delay or take the task sideways and add more time.

A good rule of thumb for me is to double the amount of time that I think a task will take to accomplish. This is usually more realistic as it will allow for extra time for unforeseen circumstances. It will also reduce the stress of not being as productive as you originally planned. If you get done early you can take a quick break to refresh and tackle another project.

Take moments to breathe and take note of the good in your life

Our days are stressful enough. We usually rush through our day without seeing all the wonderful little things that life has to offer.

Take time throughout your day to take a break and relax your mind. This means no phone. Close your eyes and take several deep breaths and think of only good things. Look out the window or go outside and look for wonderful things that you either haven’t seen before or haven’t seen in a while.

Doing this will ground yourself and recharge your mind and body, releasing negativity of the day and replacing it with positive thoughts. This is an important aspect of the slow living lifestyle.

Make slow decisions on the important things and fast decisions on the unimportant things

How many impulse decisions in your life have turned out great? Probably not many if any at all. For important decisions, it is usually a great idea to think through the decision, then sit on it for a bit before making the final decision. More times than not something I thought was a great idea at first later turns out to be not such a great idea.

On the other hand, sometimes we burn through precious brain energy and too much time on decisions that have no importance at all. What to wear each day, what to eat for dinner or lunch, do I want to walk on the treadmill or outside (always pick outside!)? These decisions are trivial and aren’t worth as much thought as some people give to them.

Stop accumulating unnecessary things

Most of us have this penchant to acquire things. A new shiny thing that excites us. Media advertising drives this down our throat with every TV commercial, Youtube ad, and website ad. Every company wants us to buy their new great thing and they bombard us with it. Most of these things that we buy ends up collecting cobwebs and eventually goes to Goodwill or the dump after our initial excitement for it wears out. More stuff is clutter that complicates your life.

We waste so much money on unnecessities. The bigger things like a larger home, boat, ATVs and such not only require more of our money but also more of our time to keep clean and maintenance.

If you concentrate on things that you really need you will save money and time. See my article on Saving Money Tips. It will also greatly reduce your stress. You don’t have to practice minimalism but think long term before making purchases. This is a great example of intentional living.

The art of slowing down

The art of slowing down is not a myth. It is very achievable and will change your life. There are so many benefits of slow living, with reducing stress, saving money, and intentional living through mindfulness being the most important.

You can do this. Start thinking about how you are living each day and being mindful of what you are doing. Start small if you need to and work on a few things each day.