Let’s focus on the importance of slowing down. Here’s why: personal productivity and the art of work/life balance depends on a healthy dose of doing nothing. I don’t mean the kind of lazy spirit that many aspire to but rather a degree of stepping back to focus on what’s important.  From a GTD perspective, slowing down can make a lot of sense- if you know what you don’t have to do at this instant, relaxing becomes all the more tangible.

Fridays are great for looking back and taking stock of how things went in the past week. A Friday is also perfect for evaluating motives behind how we spend our time. Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, has this to say,

If tomorrow, you arrived at work and didn’t get a cup of coffee…didn’t get on the Internet…didn’t talk to your friend…didn’t get your new blog postings…didn’t get sucked into email for 90 minutes…what could you use that energy on instead that will made you proud and give you a boost of satisfaction for the entire day?

So let’s make some time between now and Friday to slow down and enjoy some moments of calm. That may mean doing something of high value or heck, it might mean doing nothing at all. Sometimes blocking out the noise, interruptions, and time wasters is victory in an of itself.

Quote for the Road: “Peace is the tranquility of order.” St. Augustine