Slow Down to Speed Up

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What if rushing through life is actually slowing us down? What if the narrative of faster always means better, more productive, and more successful isn't working?

The constant urgency we feel has become so normalized that we barely notice it anymore – it's become the air we breathe.  When we're moving at such a fast pace we often fabricate unnecessary stress without realizing it: sitting on the edge of our seats, stomachs clenched, constantly watching the clock. This creates a persistent low-grade stress that chips away at our well-being and productivity.

Let's talk about how small moments of intentional pausing - can dramatically change outcomes and experiences.

Remember: leading your life begins with leading yourself, and sometimes we need to slow down to speed up.

Learn more about Carla:
Website: https:/www.carlareeves.com/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevescarla/
Connect on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@differentlythepodcast

Go to https://carlareeves.com/freeclass to get The Class schedule, sign up, and/or pass it on to a friend. Each month is a new topic. Come hang out and learn with us for FREE!

Get your copy of 5 Ways to Manage Your Mind

Book a Complimentary Strategy Call with Carla: https://bookme.name/carlareeves/strategycall

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
A deep change in the way that we live requires a deep
change in the way that we think.
I'm Carla Reeves and this isDifferently.
What if the most importantthing you could do right now is
to slow down?
I don't mean sit on the couchand veg all day, but to pause

(00:24):
long enough to catch your breathand see what's really going on
inside.
Hey, thanks for tuning in.
If you've been listening to thepodcast for a while, thank you
so much.
If you've been sharing thepodcast with others, which I've
been noticing, we have newlisteners.
Thank you so much for sharing.
And if you're new to thepodcast, welcome.

(00:48):
Today's topic is slow down tospeed up.
I know we've heard this conceptand for high achievers,
ambitious, driven people, thiscan kind of bend the brain and,
honestly, the first time I heardit I didn't believe it and I
wasn't even interested in theidea.
Lately, I've been noticingfriends, clients and people in

(01:10):
general reluctant to take thetime to do the things that they
know they need and want to do,because they're trapped by what
feels like urgency, lack of time, too much to do, and while I
know there's a lot on your plateand things tugging for your
attention and work to be doneand and and and.

(01:35):
Much of what perpetuates thisurgency and pace in our lives
can be examined and shifted.
It's time we question andchallenge these ideas that are
running our life and oftenrobbing our life.
I've been doing this inquiryfor myself for the last five

(01:57):
years or so, and here's what Isee.
The problem I see, and thatI've been observing, is that
there's this constant rush andurgency we feel in our daily
lives.
It's just there, it's almostlike the air that we breathe,
and it takes just pausing toactually observe it and notice
it.
And one of the things that I dois just ask, start to ask

(02:20):
yourself is this necessary?
Is this pace working?
Is this aligned for me and ourfamily and what we're up to?
You know that, with the manythings that are tugging at your
attention, are they the realthings that matter, or are they
things that you've just becomeaccustomed or taught other

(02:41):
people that you will do, butthey don't match and align with
what you're up to now.
The illusion that moving fasteris going to get us somewhere
quicker is a lie that we havebeen told or that we have
witnessed, that we have watchedfor so long in our culture and

(03:02):
I'm actually beginning tobelieve that the opposite is
true.
What I've experienced over thelast five years in experimenting
with this and challenging itand just trying something
different in my own life is thatslowing down actually
accelerates my progress andmomentum.
And I feel entirely differentwhen I'm going through the day

(03:27):
doing my work or doing thingsaround the house, or doing
things with my children or myhusband.
I can get a lot done withoutsitting on the edge of my seat
and my stomach clenched.
That's how I used to work at mydesk.
I don't think I even realizedthat I was doing that until I
started to pay attention, likehow do I feel during my workday,
how do I sit at my desk, howdoes my body feel?

(03:49):
And that's when I noticed thatI literally sat on the edge of
my seat.
My stomach was clenched.
I'm watching the clock, feelingurgency, which created like a
very low grade of stress all thetime.
The other thing I've noticed isin taking time to slow down, it
allows me to be more intentionalabout managing my mind,

(04:10):
checking my perspective andaligning my actions instead of
living in autopilot.
And this, my friend, is goodfor you.
It's good for everyone andeverything around you, taking
frequent breaks that actuallyget me out of my head.
This has been one of the mostpowerful things that I've been

(04:33):
learning to do is kind of payattention to my energy and
notice when my energy drops.
That's a perfect time to stepaway from my desk or go grab a
little bite to eat, or go take awalk or do something entirely
different, maybe somethingcreative, to return me to a
state of flow, and then I canreturn to my desk much more

(04:55):
productive instead of justspinning my wheels and wasting
time Examining repeated patternsin my life that have gotten in
my way over and over again.
This is some of the healing, Ithink, work that happens when we
slow down long enough toactually watch ourselves and
watch our patterns and watchwhen we keep tripping up over

(05:16):
the same things again and again,and I think the last one that
I'll talk about today is justslowing down to speed up.
Sometimes it's just pausing inthe moment so that I can
actually make a choice insteadof running an autopilot, and
this can be the differencebetween just making motions and

(05:36):
making meaningful motions thatactually lead to what you want,
and this in a.
I've seen this in a few clientsover the last week or so.
One client she just startedpausing her her children were
getting in an argument andinstead of rushing in and

(05:59):
stepping in, she slowly walkedand paused before she even got
there and changed her reaction.
Instead of reacting, sheresponded to her children.
It was a different experiencefor her.
It was a different experiencefor her children.
Say, your spouse says one thingand your blood starts to boil.

(06:21):
Something you can do here isjust stopping and saying hey,
you just said this, and it mademe feel like this Is that what
you intended?
I've done that many, many timeswith my husband and I can't
tell you, but almost everysingle time I asked that
question, 98% of the time, I wascompletely wrong in my

(06:41):
assumption of what he meant.
So it's things like thisslowing down to speed up.
It's in the small moments wherewe have an opportunity to
change something ever soslightly that can change the
motions and course of our life.
Lastly, I have noticed that Iactually get more done when I'm

(07:04):
calm, focused and present.
How about you?
I want you to think about, asyou listen to me, talk about my
own inquiry into this what isthe strain for you?
What's in the way for you ofslowing down to speed up.
What would be possible inslowing down in your life and

(07:25):
where and what would that looklike?
Get curious.
And a paceometer, which I'dnever even heard of a paceometer
.
But a speedometer measures yourcurrent speed at any given
moment, like on your car, whilea paceometer measures your

(07:45):
overall rhythm andsustainability in that In life
and work.
A speedometer approach is goingto keep us frantically busy,
but often ineffective andexhausted.
The paceometer approach helpsus make consistent progress
through rhythms of work and rest, ultimately taking us further.

(08:09):
What's your pace, friend?
Is it producing the outcomesyou're after?
Come explore this further in myfree class this month, in August
, we're doing slow down to speedup.
Come join me.
It's virtual, it's free, it'son August 15th.
Join me for conversation,guided writing and time to

(08:30):
reflect.
August is a perfect time to setyourself up for finishing the
year a little differently.
There's a link to save yourspot in the show notes.
And remember leading your lifebegins with leading yourself and
sometimes we need to slow downto speed up.
Thank you for making it all theway to the end and thank you

(08:53):
for listening to Differently.
If you enjoyed this episode,will you please go leave a
five-star review and share itwith someone you love.
Goodbye for now.
I'll see you next week.