Sometimes I go through days where I am constantly rushing, ticking off endless tasks (with more appearing) and yet nothing seems to get done.

Nothing moves forward.

Do you ever feel like that?

It’s one of the big contradictions in life…

When we try to speed up to get everything done, it seems like time is moving faster, and we have less of it to spare, so we speed up.

We’re all like hamsters running in the wheel of time.

The faster we try to get along, the faster the wheel turns.

It’s a depressing thought.

But it doesn’t have to be like this.

Machines and technology were supposed to liberate us from long hours, hard work and the chains of place.

We could choose where we live, work remotely and have lots of time for leisure, hobbies, families, outside interests.

Life would be like the ‘60s cartoon the Jetsons.

Zipping about in bubble cars, working only 3 days a week and spending the rest of our time in a fun, colourful utopian future.
But we find ourselves slaves to the technology that’s supposed to liberate us.

Emails, social media, texts and phone-calls swallow up our time, soak up our attention and never seem to end…

Most work 5 days a week, dealing with choked up commuter routes… traffic jams… packed trains… and the same old clocking in and clocking out times every day.

Sure, a larger proportion of people work from home.

Yes, you can Skype New York or New Delhi from your bedroom.

Maybe you enjoy a bit of flexi-time to pick up kids from school.

But has it made a real difference?

Do you feel like you can turn your focus and attention fully to getting a new business or product off the ground – and soon?

Most likely, it seems that time is against you.

You have to swim through an ocean of online messages, emails, appointments, family commitments, shopping and cleaning to get just a few hours to work.

The more you try and get ahead, the less time there seems.

But there’s nothing you can do about that, though, right?

After all time is time. It ticks away and we all have the same amount of it,

Well… no.

Not really.

We all perceive time in different ways, based on our age, our attitudes, our daily routines.

And it is possible to slow time…

And give yourself a bigger sense of space in which to get your business project off the ground.

Let me explain….

The Society for the Deceleration of Time is a fascinating idea. It was something create in the 2000s as part of the ‘slow movement’.

They have realised that despite all our so-called progress, people have less time for the things they really want to do

It feels like time is hurtling past us ever faster, that it is becoming more difficult to stop and smell the flowers.

The idea of taking time out is seen as indulgent, lazy or unproductive.

As the phrase goes “time is money”.

You feel guilty if you spend a day staring the walls…

Or take time to go on long walks, perhaps sit in a café all afternoon, or on a bench in a park watching the world go by.

You almost feel embarrassed, like you’re “down and out.”

It’s crazy. We’ve been so conditioned that we have become willing slaves to constant work, stress and “busy-ness”. Even if we don’t need to be busy, we keep busy.

But it’s because we don’t take time to pause, reflect and focus on the here and now that that we feel time is accelerating.

The Society said: “Every member should, regardless of what kind of activity he or she engages in, prolong the time taken for that activity whenever it makes sense to do so. In this members are assured of the solidarity of the Society as a whole. They should stand up for the right to pause for reflection.”

In other words…

When you need to slow down and take a bit longer to do something properly, you should do so. When you do focus on something intently you get BETTER results and more fulfilment.

And you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking time out to pause, reflect and take stock.

In fact, as more and more people believe now, failing to take time out actually decreases productivity.

Taking a break. Staring out of a window. Going on a walk. Sitting in a park. Meditating in a quiet room. These are all productive acts. They allow the mind to wander. They permit thoughts to flow.

You’ll know this from all the times you’ve had a great idea while being at the wheel of car, in the shower, or out on a walk.

It seems like a cruel trick – sod’s law – that you get ideas when you least have the ability to record them.

But it’s not a trick… it’s actually how the brain works.

You need to slow down, take out time, and allow your thoughts space to form.

What’s more, when you do this, you begin to slow down your perception of time. It seems to flow less quickly, And you feel less like a hamster on a wheel, more able to tackle your business project head on, with focus and care.

The uncanny result is that by slowing down, you’re more likely to succeed sooner.