Sometimes, slow down

One way to remind yourself of time's abundance

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to try slowing down sometimes, particularly if your

(00:23):
default mode is fast. Going deliberately slow can make time
feel more abundant. So as you might imagine, I generally
like to do things pretty quickly. I try to minimize
transition times so I can spend more time on the

(00:44):
things I care about. But occasionally, when I've got a
lighter day, I like to slow things down a little.
While emptying the dishwasher the other morning, I decided to
carry just two mugs at a time over to the
mug cupboard, because well, I didn't have anything I needed
to do urgently afterwards. I didn't need to try to

(01:07):
hoist four mugs over there and each load. Now, perhaps
this might have felt inefficient, and on some level it was,
But on another level, this slowness changed my perception of time.
It felt a little more open and expansive. Look at

(01:28):
me emptying the dishwasher inefficiently, I must have all the
time in the world. None of us has all the
time in the world, of course, but it can be
fun to feel that way. For the price of a
few extra seconds. So think if there is a situation
where you normally move fast where it might be possible

(01:51):
to move slow. Maybe it's staying an extra minute in
the shower. Maybe it's sitting for five extra minutes at lunch.
Maybe it's not trying to get through the grocery store
as quickly as possible if you don't have anything you
immediately need to do. It' be fun to take things
a little slower, thinking about meal possibilities and seeing what

(02:14):
the grocery store has new this week. It might seem
obvious that it's fun to slow pleasant things down. I
read about a study once where people were told to
max out their enjoyment of a cookie. Almost universally, they
slowed down from a normal eating pace. That's straightforward. Making

(02:37):
the cookie last longer means more time is spent in
the enjoyment of that cookie. But I would argue that
sometimes even vaguely tedious things can benefit from a slow down.
That's because much of time is mental. It is not
that I want to spend more time in life emptying

(02:58):
the dishwasher. It's just that by demonstrating to myself that
I can slow down, if I want to I change
my perception of time. I am in control of it
and I have a lot of it so much I
can just throw it around. Those are generally good ways

(03:21):
to feel now. There is no need to go overboard
with this. Making quick transitions and doing things efficiently is
partly what makes my life with five kids and two
working parents possible. So that's why this episode is called
sometimes slow down, not all the time, but sometimes because

(03:45):
a little bit can go a long way in the meantime.
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

(04:05):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com

(04:26):
that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

(04:46):
you listen to your favorite shows.