Slow Down To Speed Up
Mindfulness is not about slowing down, it’s about speeding up.
New results, requires new actions, needs new thinking.
But where does this new thinking come from?
From a mind full of yesterday’s troubles, of tomorrow’s worries, of continually solving other people’s problems?
This is a heavy, slow mind.
New thinking comes from instinct, intuition, being ‘in the zone’, to use an outdated colloquialism. Or for something more relevant, it’s about flow, presence, mindfulness.
It’s a conundrum because busy leaders are the last to shy away from hard work. But the kind of work that elevates their results is not more of the predictable spin.
This is the sticking point. How do I slow down, even if I wanted to, when my mind is running a never-ending race of its own? When it’s already 10 steps ahead with no interest in now?
It’s an misunderstanding that mindfulness is about slowing down. The practice of mindfulness requires us to be slow for a few minutes a day, but in return it opens up channels of creativity and innovation that crystallises purpose, accelerates projects and connects people.
Yes, a daily practice of mindfulness is challenging, but when leaders discover how it helps them speed up results, they develop a new interest in being slow, very quickly.
