Slow down, or you might just miss it

When was the last time you listened to music?

Not when you put your playlist on while you’re at work or commuting, like actually listened.

To those who have been unfortunate enough to have heard me ramble on my ever-changing mental models, attitudes to life. Here is one I’m working on and appreciating more everyday that goes by this lockdown.

Ever since my first foray into the self-help/ productivity blackhole, I have developed this unhealthy obsession with streamlining my life – cutting all the excesses, in hope of zooming past life, getting to where I want to be.

With the risk of sounding like a sociopath, this unhealthy obsession was at times all-encompassing. This includes eating habits, using various pomodoro timers, to listening to podcasts at 1.4x speed. The goal is to try to cut down 3-5% of ‘lag time’, ultimately – to do more, as vague as it sounds.

Similar to what a lot of people must have felt. When the lockdown first hit, I enjoyed the newfound ‘freedom’. On the productivity front, I was tapping into this new elixir of life. Freedom from all the social obligations has enabled me to be ‘hyper productive’ and be on my work all the time. I was getting more done with little lag time. Zoom, facetime, google meet meant that I was still catching up with my friends and families, having back-to-back meetings, etc.

Sounds great on paper and amazing too in practice up until recently.

Society today prioritises speed and productivity more than anything. For the most part, it is great.

Speed allows us to produce more.

Better yield gives us more downtime.

Less energy wasted meant we spend more of our finite attention focusing on those that matters.

Research in science and technology has in turn allowed us to venture further than we could imagine – be part of an inter terrestrial species today.

In general, a more productive society meant better quality of life.

Quality of life is perceivably better until you start cramming more in.

This is not a rail against productivity. Yes, it is but no too.

There is value in slowing down.

Of all the unlikely sources, this epiphany came in form of cooking for me.

There is beauty in it. It is all a bit poetic if only you could turn a notch down and appreciate the process. From sourcing the materials, to processing it, to consuming it. I had been guilty of it all, beginning with my fetishes over protein shakes to meal hacks.

Productivity may have never been about doing more but prioritising on what truly matters.

Breathe and live the moment. One blink away and this here is forever gone, disappearing amongst the cosmos and stardust. For every second you are shaving off, you may very well be cutting out the joys of what makes life worth it.

Post lockdown, I may shift gears, accelerate and decelerate periodically, trying to navigate through life. Until then, will very much attempt to live life 1.1x speed at a time.