In my post, Slow Your Pace, we discussed the need to slow things down a bit, at least on Fridays. Honestly, it wouldn’t hurt if you slowed down things in life, on your job, in your home, at your church or even in school.
Here are 10 ways to help you slow the pace in your respective environment:
- See your week as just that a week.
This means don’t over plan your week. You are one person and can only do so much work. - Land your plane.
Every plane that takes off has to land at some point in time. Your week represents the time you spend in the air or in this case working. - Be intentional about slowing the pace.
Make up in your mind that you want your Friday (or any day for that matter) to be different from the rest. - Process your emails.
I like to process emails into 3 groups: (a) filing, (b) actions for others and (c) actions for myself. - Manage tasks (ask for permission/provide updates).
Any actions or tasks you had planned for Friday, ask for permission to extend to Monday. - Clean off your desk.
This helps you in 2 ways. It helps you organize and see what’s underneath the stacks. Using this tip means you’ll no longer have stacks. - Start as soon as you get to work.
Don’t say you’re going to get to it or delay for any reason. Start as soon as possible. In fact, make it your top job responsibility for the day. - On Friday (or whatever day you choose) make slowing the pace the theme for your work.
This means make slowing the pace your primary work for the day. - Take a slow walk.
Take a walk on your break to get your thoughts together. - Avoid placing new activities on Friday (or whatever day you choose).
When new activities arrive and there’s no immediate need to complete, take care of it Monday.
In the book, The Power of Full Engagement, I learned to treat my life like an athlete does their sport. We must know when to work hard, practice hard and give the game (our life) our best, but more importantly we need to know when we should rest and recover. This balance is key to the success of any athlete and any professional.
[…] name of the game is how to slow your pace. My team and I have an initiative we promote, taking back Sunday’s for Christ. To slow […]