The Art of Slowing Down

In a culture that idolizes speed, it’s easy to confuse motion with meaning. We sprint through packed calendars, juggle overflowing inboxes, and try to optimize every minute, only to end the day with a nagging sense that we were busy, but ineffective. Hurry promises efficiency when, in reality, it fragments attention, strains relationships, and drains energy.

Consider these common patterns:

• Decision fatigue from constant context-switching. Fun (yet alarming) fact: A recent study by the Harvard Business Review shows that the average adult makes over 35,000 decisions each day.
• Shallow work crowding out deep, creative work that moves the needle.
• Disconnected relationships because there’s no time for listening or nuance.
• Microwave habits: rushing meals, sleep, conversation, even thinking.

The invisible cost? Diminished attention. Attention is the engine of quality work and meaningful connection, which is SO IMPORTANT in the multifamily housing industry. Without it, we default to reaction over intention. We answer the loudest thing rather than the most important thing.

Call me crazy, but I think it’s time we explore a counterintuitive idea: slowing down. Eliminating hurry from our lives. Believe it or not, slowing down can make you more focused, efficient, and fulfilled. This article will provide you with practical tools and rhythms for everyday life. Think of the sections below as five shifts for your pace: simplicity, presence, rest, relationships, and redefining success.

If you feel like your life is just too busy and you’re putting in a ton of hours but the workload just never decreases, I encourage you to consider adopting some (or all!) of the habits below.

Shift #1: Embrace Simplicity — Make Space for What Matters

Complexity breeds chaos; clarity breeds calm. Simplicity is the strategic elimination of what distracts from what matters.

Try This: The 3x3 Priority Reset

• 3 priorities this quarter: Choose three outcomes that truly matter (e.g., “launch the new member newsletter,” “stabilize team workflows,” “revamp the event content pipeline”).
• 3 priorities this week: Concrete steps (e.g., “draft newsletter outline,” “document SOP for social posts,” “schedule applicant interviews”).
• 3 priorities today: Tasks that directly advance your weekly priorities. Everything else goes to a “parking lot,” to be visited later.
  
  

Declutter Your Commitments (Not Just Your Desk)

• Audit your calendar: Color-code items by value (high-impact work, admin, connection, rest). Aim for 60–70% high-impact.
• Decide your “no” criteria: If a request doesn’t advance your quarterly priorities or align with your core values, it’s a “no” or a “not now.”
• Batch administration: Confine low-value tasks (approvals, scheduling, routine emails) to one window daily.
  
  

Micro Habit: The 10-Minute Reset
At the start of each day, spend 10 minutes clarifying what you will NOT do today. This small boundary protects focus more than any productivity app.

Shift #2: Practice Presence — Focus is a Force Multiplier

Presence turns minutes into momentum. When you’re fully here, your coworkers and your residents can tell. Your work improves and your relationships deepen. Hurry erodes presence by pulling your attention toward future tasks, past mistakes, and constant notifications.

Single-Tasking in a Multitask World

• Focus blocks (50–90 minutes): Pick one high-impact task. Put everything else out of reach, including non-emergency notifications.
• Context cards: Before a meeting or collaborative work session, write these three bullet points: purpose, desired outcome, first step. Keep the meeting on track and make sure you finish with those bullet points completed.
• Recovery ritual (2 minutes): After a focus block or meeting, stand up, breathe deeply, and write one sentence on what moved forward during that time.
  Technology Boundaries That Actually Stick
• Set notification tiers: Critical (family/emergencies), important (supervisor/team), bulk (news/marketing). Keep only critical and important alerts on your phone.
• Inbox rules: Use filters and folders for newsletters, approvals, and FYIs. Check inbox at set times (e.g., 11:30 a.m., 4:00 p.m.).
• Phone foyer: Dock your phone at the edge of your workspace during focused work. Physical distance reduces reflex checks.
  
  

Shift #3: Create Rhythms of Rest — Sustainable Energy Beats Constant Motion

Rest isn’t the opposite of productivity; it’s the generator of it. Without rhythms of restoration, efficiency degrades and creativity fades.

The Energy Lens: Plan Your Week Around What Fuels You

• Identify energy modes: Deep thinking, collaboration, synthesis, admin, service. Which mode fuels you? Which drains you?
• Time-block accordingly: Place high-energy tasks when you feel strongest. For many, mornings are for focused work; afternoons for collaboration.
• Recover deliberately: Short breaks (5–10 minutes) every hour; longer breaks (30–60 minutes) daily; off-grid blocks weekly.
  
  

The 3-2-1 Evening Wind-Down

• 3 hours before bed: Stop heavy meals and intense work.
• 2 hours before bed: Limit screens and stimulating content.
• 1 hour before bed: Prepare tomorrow’s top three priorities (mentioned in Shift #1), tidy your space, practice a calming ritual (stretching, journaling, breathing).
  
  

Build a Weekly Rhythm You Can Keep

• One off-grid block (2–4 hours): No screens, no tasks. Take a walk, cook, garden, read. If your schedule is currently too full, make it early Sunday morning or a weeknight.
• Reflect and reset (30 minutes): Ask: What mattered? What energized me? What will I change next week?
• Micro-sabbaticals: These are getting REALLY popular nowadays. (In fact, I recently read an article about this in the Indiana Business Journal.) Take a tiny retreat during the day. Step outside, savor a meal, listen fully to someone. These are not luxuries; they are fuel.
  
  

Shift #4: Prioritize People Over Productivity — Relationships Are the Infrastructure of a Good Life

People aren’t interruptions to productivity; they’re the point—and the foundation. We do our best work in networks of trust, care, and collaboration. Hurry undermines those networks.

Lead With Listening

• Use the 70/30 rule: In one-on-ones, listen 70%, speak 30%.
• Ask better questions: “What outcome would be most helpful?” “What’s one roadblock we can remove today?”
• Reflect back: Summarize what you heard: “What I’m hearing is… Did I get that right?” This reduces rework and builds alignment.
  
  

Protect High-Value Conversations

• Office hours: Create predictable windows for teammates to drop in with questions. It reduces ad-hoc interruptions.
• Agenda → Outcomes: Share agendas early; design meetings to end with action items that have a named owner, deadline, and definition of completion.
• No-drive meetings: For relationship-oriented sessions, turn off screens and resist multitasking.
  Rituals That Strengthen Community
• Check-ins: Start team meetings with a 60-second personal check-in. It humanizes the room and surfaces context that matters.
• Thank-yous: End projects by naming contributions publicly. Recognition accelerates trust.
  
  

Shift #5: Redefine Success — Replace Busyness with Purpose

When success equals speed and volume, hurry wins. Reframing success toward purpose, presence, and outcomes frees you to move at the right pace.

Write a One-Page Personal Operating System (POS)

• Purpose: One sentence describing what you aim to contribute to your team. (This is a great exercise for families too!)
• Principles: 5 behaviors that guide your choices (e.g., “Protect focused work time,” “Choose clarity over speed,” “Value people over tasks”).
• Practices: The rhythms that keep you aligned (focus blocks, weekly review, off-grid rest).
• Pace: Your default cadence (e.g., “Two major projects at a time. No meetings before 10 a.m. twice weekly.”)

Keep it visible. Revisit your commitments often.

Shift from Outputs to Outcomes

• Outputs: Emails sent, meetings held, tasks completed (busy metrics).
• Outcomes: Problems solved, decisions made, value delivered (impact metrics).
• Design your week around outcomes. Ask daily: What outcome will make other tasks easier or unnecessary?
  
  

Bringing It All Together

Eliminating hurry is not about rejecting ambition or settling for less. It’s a strategy for doing the right work at the right pace. When you simplify, you create space. When you practice presence, you multiply quality. When you rest, you renew energy. When you prioritize people, you strengthen the infrastructure of your life and work. And when you redefine success, hurry loses its power.

The result isn’t just calmer days. It’s clearer outcomes, more resilient teams, and relationships that can hold the weight of meaningful work. The life you’ve been hurrying toward isn’t somewhere “out there”; it’s built in the cadence of your everyday choices.

What would change if you took one meaningful step this week—a single deep work block, a two-hour off-grid rest, or an agenda designed for clarity? Start there. Let your pace be intentional, humane, and strong enough to carry what matters.

References

• Comer, John. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. WaterBrook, 2019.
• Stephen Glasser Blog. “Why Relationships Matter for Productivity.” Available at: stephenglasser.com
• HR Grapevine. “Workplace Relationships: The Hidden Engine of Productivity.” Available at: hrgrapevine.com
• Katalyst Group Insights. “The Power of Presence in Leadership.” Available at: katalystgroup.com
• Mayo Clinic Platform Blog. “Slowing Down Improves Decision Quality.” Available at: mayoclinicplatform.com
• Mindmonia Blog. “Efficiency Defined: Why Slowing Down Works.” Available at: mindmonia.com
• Psychology Today. “The Role of Rest in Cognitive Performance.” Available at: psychologytoday.com
• Forbes Leadership. “High Performers Focus on Impact, Not Busyness.” Available at: forbes.com