Take the Slow Road to Success

Curt Rosengren

You have big dreams, and you're committed to success. You have a million things you want to do before yesterday at noon and you're running at mach speed. You're moving so fast you can scarcely breathe.

Want to know a way to get more out of all that effort you're making? It may seem counterintuitive, but here it is: Sloooooowww dowwnnnn.

When you live your life in a frantic whirlwind, your effectiveness begins to diminish and your vision gets clouded. You start putting more energy into getting less result.

Incorporating a regular way to get grounded and centered is a great way to recalibrate and eliminate all the wasted energy that comes from moving at hyper-speed. It helps you take stock of reality so you can see the issues at hand more clearly. When you feel centered, you approach things from a more stable foundation, which helps you get more traction when you take action.

There are any number of ways to get more centered. It might be meditation (if you're new to it, I always recommend Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche). It might be gardening. It might be journaling. It might be something completely different.

Whatever works for you, make it a regular part of your life. Find time for it in your day. Maybe it's journaling for fifteen minutes first thing in the morning. Maybe it's taking 60 seconds to simply focus on your breath every time you hear the alert that you have E-mail. Maybe it's a walking meditation at lunch once a week.

You can't do it once and forget about it. To reap the benefits of slowing down, you have to make it a regular habit.

What about you? What helps you slow down and feel centered?

After years as a professional malcontent, Curt Rosengren discovered the power of passion. As a speaker, author, and coach, Rosengren helps people create careers that energize and inspire them. His book 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work and his E-book The Occupational Adventure Guide offer people tools for turning dreams into reality. Rosengren's blog, The M.A.P. Maker , explores how to craft a life of meaning, abundance, and passion.