Everywhere we look, we are being encouraged to rush through life.

We overwhelm our to-do lists.

We rush through tasks trying to meet deadlines

We exceed the speed limit trying to save an extra minute or two. On our way to nowhere in particular.

We speed read or opt for book summaries.

We paradoxically try to do several things at once, in an attempt to get them done faster.

We have an internal pressure to constantly be doing something.

We rush our children along in our wake, telling them “Hurry Up”, “Come on”, and “We don’t have time.”

We sign them up for sports teams at the age of three and fill their calendars with activities and classes so they are equipped to compete on the court, field, classroom, and eventually the boardroom.

We fear being left behind, left out, or not doing enough.

So, we try our best to keep up with our speed-crazed society.

But WHY?

You may think that society moving faster is an inevitable progression of life.

Living in a developed country, and given our technological and scientific advances in the past century, our society has to try and keep up. Right?

We work harder and longer to produce and achieve more.
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Therefore, it’s not surprising that according to The American Institute of Stress, around 33 percent of people feel extremely stressed.

77 percent of these people say this stress affects their physical health, and 73 percent say it affects their mental health.

And the number one cause of this stress is workplace workload.

Some of this is due to the average American working close to 9 hours a day, when we only really have the capacity to be productive for about three hours.

But the work keeps coming.

A byproduct of the industrial age, right? Probably.

During the Industrial Age people were expected to work insanely long work days, averaging around 10-16 hours.

Workers got used to living unsatisfactory lives because they had no time to enjoy it outside of work.

And although the work was often tedious, repetitive, and unfulfilling, it had to be done and there was LOTS of it.

Wages were low and work conditions were bad.

So, when 8 hours a day became the norm, we were relieved. Hoping life would be better…and it was in many ways.

But as the statistics proved, 1 in 3 people still feel stressed from their workload.

The Role or FEAR in Our Rushed & Overworked Lives

People are afraid to be different, stand out, or do things differently even when it is beneficial.

We want to give the illusion of having our shit together. So, we fall in line with what everybody else is doing and expect. Trying to keep up, even at our own expense.

1. We fear being seen as less than, and not measuring up to the next person.

There is a comparison to what the next person has or what they’re doing that keeps us afraid that we aren’t doing enough or are we’re different than everybody else, which we don’t like.

2. We fear judgment, and being seen as lazy.

We put so much stock into what others think that we avoid getting familiar with our own healthy work capacity, which is different per person and may be different day-to-day.

Unfortunately, most work situations don’t account for this. If they did, work performance would inevitably increase.

3. We fear the discomfort of not having what we want/need due to lack of resources.

Legit. We get used to a certain level of comfort, and it’s not far-fetched to want to maintain that. But have we become so accustomed to our comforts we no longer know how to get along without them?

Author Michael Easter says, “”We are living progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged, safety-netted lives."

We neglect allowing ourselves to build the resilience associated with being uncomfortable from time-to-time, which we can do with intention.

This will help us realize we can be uncomfortable and be ok, so we can conquer our fear..

Try…

sleeping on the floor from time-to-time.

Wear a lighter coat than you usually would in the cold.

Skip a meal.

For more ideas, and to dive deeper into this subject, check Michael Easter’s book, “The Comfort Crisis”.

In actuality, most of us will not become destitute by deciding to work less and/or slow down. Our fears of lack are often based on worst-case-scenarios.

4. We fear boredom.

We don’t know how to be bored anymore. With our devices constantly in our hands, there is no time to be bored. We have a thought. We Google. Or find other ways to entertain ourselves at the slightest hint of boredom.

We subconsciously fear what we will find if we were to be alone with our thoughts without distraction.

5. We fear failure.

We fear not living up to our family’s, our boss’, our society's standards, and we don’t create a standard of our own outside of their influence.

What is enough? What makes us happy? And how would WE like to pursue that happiness? What is our definition of success? Do you know?

6. We fear disappointing others.

People and their expectations keep us ordinary and in a box. People want us to be how they are, think what they think, and do what they would do. So, we try to live up to their expectations even when they aren’t what we want for ourselves.

We raise our children a certain way for fear of disappointing our parents or peers and being judged.

We don’t want to disappoint our spouse, boss or co-workers, so we place (often unwarranted) pressure on ourselves and we build unhealthy work habits to compensate.

Hurry Sickness

Our need to speed through life and overcompensate in the workplace, has become its own condition.

Hurry Sickness is "a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time."

People with hurry sickness think fast, talk fast, and act fast. They multitask and rush against the clock, feeling pressured to get things done and getting flustered by any sign of a problem.

This may be more common or obvious to spot in the workplace, but I would argue that it can also be seen in homes.

Parents that fill their children’s schedules then rush them from activity to activity, or rush their children to learn to walk, potty-train, or any “age-appropriate” skill they feel they should be doing or know, then become anxious when their child is “behind”.

The Digital Era

Let’s look at ways the digital age is contributing to our urge to rush and hustle through life.

1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

Everyone’s highlight reel is right in our faces at all times via social media. So, it’s inevitable that we compare our real lives to other’s best lives.

Internally, we start to feel we aren’t doing or being enough, so we overwork or rush to get to the next shiny object or place because that’s where they’re at and we don’t want to miss out.

2. Instant Gratification

We have “the world at our fingertips” at all times. By the tap of a screen we have what we want. It’s magic. And it conditions us to be very impatient.

Lose your WIFI connection and your phone takes longer than 3 seconds to respond, and you're instantly agitated. We want it now!

Whether we realize it or not, our technology is making us lack patience, which adds to our desire to go through life faster.

3. Overstimulation

We are constantly being stimulated. As mentioned, we have access to the world in our pockets. Whether we want to be educated or entertained. It can be done in an instant, with seemingly infinite options to choose from.

The worst part is, it’s available for your pleasure around the clock. It never shuts off.

4. Information Overload

There is an opinion for every angle on every topic you can think of. Whichever way you want to think, there is an opinion for and against it, and several somewhere on the spectrum between those.

It’s a wonder many of us are so confused, and end up trying to do and try all the things. How can we really know which way to go when there are so many options?

It would appear that having a lot of options would be a good thing, right?

I beg to differ. People are disconnected from their own instincts and intuition, so we seek the knowledge of others, which is usually just strong opinions. And by the time we watch a few videos, read a few articles, or books, we’re more confused than when we started.

So, we overcompensate. At least this way we’ll have a leg up, instead of doing nothing and dreadfully being “behind”.

5. Shortened Attention Span

Did you know our attention span is shorter than a goldfish’s?

Humans have shorter attention spans than goldfish whose attention span is 9 seconds.

The average human attention span is 8.25 seconds, which can range from 2 seconds to over 20 minutes.

Our attention span decreased by almost 25% from 2000 to 2015, and I would bet technology had a lot to do with it.

The Curse and the Cure

We’ve just discussed how technology is contributing to our problem, but technology can also be our cure if used effectively.

There are many tools available via technology that can help us solve the very problems we are facing from technology constantly being available to us.

We can learn to use technology to our advantage instead of our detriment by learning to manage our lives better with some of the tools it has to offer. “How?”, You say. Keep reading.

Kicking the Hustle Habit and Living in the Present

We can do this with time management, getting organized, and changing our mind set.

Time Management Tools

Managing time fights busyness, overwork, and overwhelm. We manage time to help us get more done in less time. Here are a few techniques to consider, and I bet there’s also an app for that.

• Plan Ahead

Know what you need to do so you’re not deciding in the moment what you need to do for the day. Planning ahead will help with all of the following suggestions.

• Eisenhower Method

Everybody has a “To-Do List” whether you write it down or it’s in your head. We have things we need to do daily. The Eisenhower Matrix teaches you to prioritize your to-do list. Here’s what to do.

• Pomodoro Method

This method helps you get into a state of deep, uninterrupted work or what some call a flow state.

For this method, you set a timer for 25 minutes for your >deep work< session. Once the timer goes off, you take a 5 minute break. Once you’ve reached 100 minutes of work, or 4 sessions, you take a 30 minute break.

I like to do three 90 minute work sessions with a 30 minute break in between. You can do it however. Just make sure you are uninterrupted during your sessions or you’re defeating the purpose. I use an app called Focus Keeper for this.

• Block Scheduling

To implement Block Scheduling you have to dedicate blocks in your day to focused work.

I theme my blocks. >My block themes< are self, home, business, and family. Block scheduling helps with consistency, as well as organization. You know when we will get things done, therefore you don’t have to take time from one task to do another. Everything has its time

• Use your natural rhythms to your benefit

Take advantage of your natural energy waves. If you have more energy in the a.m., do most of your focused work then. If you typically get tired in the early afternoon, do something that will boost your energy, like a task that requires you to move your body, but doesn’t require much brain power.

This isn’t always possible, but when it is, take advantage.

• Automate as much a possible

Put as many things on autopilot as possible. When you feel you have less to do by lessening the decisions you need to make, you won’t feel so overwhelmed.

Did you know we make somewhere around 35,000 decisions today. That sounds like a lot of brainpower being exhausted. Doesn’t it?

Batch your decisions when you can. Decide what you're eating this week and wearing all at once. And anything else you can do/decide ahead and not have to worry about in the future.

• Turn off the Screen

This is especially important for slowing down in our personal lives.

A lot of the pressure to do/be more comes from outside influences, directly or indirectly. If you find yourself pressured to keep up with the Joneses. Step away from the screen. Stop watching what others are doing.

Sometimes it’s our environment, family, or peer circle causing the pressure to keep up. In that case, it’s very important to…

• Sit with Yourself

Are your goals really yours? Or are they expectations (spoken or unspoken) of others? What do you really want? Are you really happy and satisfied with your life and yourself?

Ask yourself these types of questions to >come back to yourself<.

Journaling and meditation are practices that can help you reconnect with what’s important to you and help you figure out how you can live a better quality of life outside of other’s toxic expectations and influences.

Until Next Time…Enjoy Life.

Shonnea