Go Slow to Go Far: Advice to Multi-Taskers

It seems we cannot escape the pressure to meet deadlines. We are stressed. We rush from point A to point B. Remarks Nanette Mathews:

“If you’re always racing to the next moment, what happens to the one you’re in? Slow down and enjoy the moment you’re in and live your life to the fullest.”

We multitask and end up confused and bewildered. As Nigel Cumberland observes;

“The new disease of our age is being OK doing everything at exactly the same time.”

No wonder, we end our day enervated, overwhelmed, and spent. I guess that in the rush to the finish line, we have forgotten the virtue of slowing down. Eddie Cantor suggests:

"Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”

We cease to appreciate the balm of taking matters one thing at a time. Mokokoma Mokhonoana waxes: “Most people’s minds are almost always too busy for them to feel their skins being caressed by the wind or the sun.”

We lose the child-like attitude of pausing and appreciating the small steps toward our goal. Eckhart Tolle advises:

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.”

On learning how to pace ourselves, Hollywood actor Viggo Mortensen shares:

“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”

Lao Tzu concurs with Mortensen as he notes:

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

So there, dear friends, take a deep breath, liberate ourselves from the chains of deadlines, and take frequent deserved breaks from our harried existence. As Craig D. Lounsbrough reflects and implies:

“I spent a lifetime in a garden one afternoon.”

With care and circumspection, we will have stored enough vim and motivation to face the next day’s worth of cares and concerns.

As an unknown author contends:

“Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for.” _____________________________________________________________________________________ FREDDIE R. OBLIGACION. The author, a senior management consultant, mentor and scholar of the environment, gender, race, and social psychology, holds a PhD and MA in sociology from the Ohio State University-Columbus, MBA and BS Psychology (magna cum laude) from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He is currently studying the social-psychological correlates of environmental activism, gender inequality, and racism, as well as, presidential polling techniques and leadership preferences.