Want faster results? Slow Down.

Last week I took the subway downtown for an appointment.  I drove my car to the nearest subway station, parked figuring that I would leave the “driving’ to the subway.

Usually I would bring a book or newspaper for the journey, but today, I thought I would just “chill” and take things in. Now there was nothing unique or special about my trip, it’s just that I decided to take things in.

 Listed below are a few of my observations:

• Everyone seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere .  No, this wasn’t the morning rush hour, but rather early afternoon on a weekday.  Most people rushed to the subway platform, rushed off the subway, rushed up the stairs and walked quickly outside.

• Most people were mentally “busy” on the subway.  You might be familiar with the scene, people listening to ipods, playing with the handhelds (although there is no service in the tunnels), talking quickly with friends etc…

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It wasn’t long ago that I was one of these people. As a self employed person, I am always working on a number of projects simultaneously; I was always “busy” and I did not have any time to “waste”. After working a full day and returning home I would usually head to my office and answer the numerous e-mails well into the night.

I kept telling myself and my wife that this would only be a short term situation, but it seemed like this routine continued for years. And I’m not even mentioning the amount of traveling that I was doing as well, even when I was at home, I was really not there .

One day a friend of mine asked me to take out my calendar and schedule a “me day”.   I thought, “What the heck was that?” Well I took out my calendar, and what I noticed was that for the next three weeks I didn’t have any days (including weekends) that didn’t have something scheduled.  This in itself was an eye opener.

She then asked me to take out my pen and put a line through the first “free” day and make a promise not to schedule anything on that day.  My first thoughts were “Why?” and “I can’t afford to do that!”  Truth be told, I could not afford NOT to; and it was the first baby step in my incredible journey of slowing down.

A strange thing happened on my “free day”.  I took time to be still and silent, and I became very aware of sensations.  I would have a thought, and I would get a feeling: tightness in my muscles, a warm sensation in my chest, the feeling of a smile coming on. Giving myself permission to be silent and still actually gave me a better perspective.

In other words, when I took the time to not only think about an issue, that time also enabled me to pay attention to feelings and sensations that let me know that I was on the right or wrong track.

Being so busy, I often thought that the next step towards the bigger goal was my immediate concern.  Instead what I have come to realize is that by slowing things down and paying closer attention to my thoughts and feelings, it gave me the vantage point of knowing if that next step was getting me closer or sidetracking me from the bigger goal.

What I have found very helpful are these 3 keys:

1.       Find time everyday to be quiet and still

2.       Surrender to how you feel during this time

3.       Become aware of how you feel when you are moving towards your dreams

The funny thing is that once I committed to slowing down, the faster I got results in all areas of my life!

Shawn's inspiring presentation "Learning to Live, Living to Learn" is now available on DVD!  Please visit:

http://www.successtelevision.biz/shawnshephearddvd.html to order your copy.

Click here to see all my blogs.

See my video on "Living with Diabetes":

Shawn Shepheard has worked extensively in the career development field, including recruitment, customer service, career management and leadership training. He is also a celebrated inspirational speaker and an active volunteer for the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Visit ttp://www.shawnshepheard.com to inspire the audience at your next group event.

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