Like so many of us, I spent decades racing through life, always busy, always with so many things to do, switching gears so often from role to role, task to task, meeting to meeting. I was and am pretty good at this, yet it also makes it very difficult to become truly calm and focussed.
Whilst you may not have as consciously calm life as I do now (see yesterday’s post: “If you seek tranquillity, do less“), perhaps you can find certain things you can do slowly and consciously in your day that can help you switch into a space where you can then focus more on whatever comes directly after that.
A few ideas then for you, I hope one or more of these is of value to you as a tool to help you slow down prior to any work you have to do that needs calm and complete focus:
- Pomodoro technique. A concept really suitable for bringing focus and getting into the habit of taking breaks in between tasks. Broadly, 20-25 minutes (or the length of one side of an LP). I literally used playing LPs when I was a student to help me study, as every 22 minutes or so I had to get up to take a break and turn the record over. PS for those who are neurodiverse and struggle to focus (a topic I wrote about in: “Time blindness and the power of presence“, Pomodoro can be a game changer for some!
- Making a drink. I love coffee (two cups a day, no more) and I also love tea. I also prefer to make it slowly and consciously and as part of my breaks between periods of focussed work. For coffee, I use an Aeropress allied to a burr grinder and a kettle with a thermostat. Simple enough, and I can go through the steps “on automatic”, but I do look to take each step separately and with focus to help me slow down between tasks.
- Playing Vinyl. When I was in my mid teens I did small jobs to save money to buy a HiFi to play my LPs and 12″ Singles. In recent years I have recaptured the love of playing vinyls rather than streaming. Each has their place, but to me playing vinyl is a warm and rich sound and one that deserves focus. Linking to Pomodoro, the idea is to do 3 or 4 “Pomodoros” (that c20 minute work piece then a 5-10 minute break), then take a 30 minute or so break before getting into the next few Pomodoros. For me that can be to sit and have tea or coffee and listen to one side of an album. Really listen to it, not skipping tracks. These days you can buy a turntable for under £100/$100, connect it to your TV or Soundbar and off you go, no need for a full blown hifi.
- Slow Reading. I love things in threes, but feel to give you a fourth today. Slow Reading. My relationship to reading was changed by the book “On Reading” by Nick Parker (a podcast guest here), as I wrote about in: “The unit of reading is a chapter“. I now have several books next to the chair in my sitting room (ie a different location to my office) where I drink that tea or coffee and listen to vinyl. As I sit there, I will often put the phone down and pick up one of those books, slowly and consciously reading, sometimes only a few pages, rarely more than for fifteen minutes or so. By this method, I can take time “slow reading” a book over several months. I particularly adore this for fiction books I am loving as you can only read a book for the first time once, so the longer I take over that the better!
In closing, one of my newest LPs, a beautiful album designed to be listened to with slow and conscious focus:
