The Art Of Slowing Down: 4 Simple Ways To Be A Happy Person
Steven Rector | Unsplash We live in a world that rewards busyness. There's always another email to answer, another errand to run, another goal to chase. But somewhere along the way, many of us forgot that happiness isn't something you arrive at once everything on your to-do list is checked off. It's something you practice. And sometimes, the simplest way to find more joy is to stop rushing through life and start actually living it.
Here are 4 simple ways to be a happy person:
1. Schedule time to decompress
There's something about setting aside time in your calendar that makes you more likely to do it. So, set aside time in your calendar for both short daily mental breaks and for larger relaxation periods. And then, be sure to check and follow your calendar.
If you don't carve out space for rest, your to-do list will happily fill every waking moment. Research published in 2016 found that scheduling actually increases the chances that we'll follow through on leisure activities. The trick is to keep it flexible.
2. Create simple daily rituals or routines
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A 2021 study found that people who performed simple daily rituals reported higher levels of joy and lower levels of anxiety and depression. Rituals give us a sense of control and predictability in an often very chaotic world/
Create several simple and easy routines that are designed to help you relax, get focused, and be more peacefully alert. I recommend that you have, at a minimum:
- A morning routine that's designed to help you get motivated and focused for the day ahead.
- An evening routine that's designed to help you ditch any stress from the day and relax so that you get optimum sleep.
- A go-to routine designed to help you de-stress when you start to feel overwhelmed at work.
None of these rituals takes long, and all could be done in as little as 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Differentiate between what's simply urgent vs. what’s truly important
There's nothing worse than spending your time on a bunch of stuff that's not all that important simply because it feels urgent. But here's the thing: Something that’s urgent isn’t necessarily the same thing as important.
A study published in The Journal of Consumer Research found that people consistently choose urgent tasks over important ones, even when the important task offers a bigger reward. Researchers call this the "mere urgency effect," and it happens because we get so focused on deadlines that we lose sight of what actually matters.
If you find that you’re often jumping from one emergency to another, it’s time to step back and rethink whether these urgent items are truly important (because many of them likely aren't). The biggest urgent, yet unimportant, time-wasters are emails, phone calls, and interruptions from co-workers.
4. Block your time
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This is something I had to learn the hard way several years into my legal career, thanks to a partner I worked for. I was having difficulty getting a project finished because of constant interruptions via email and phone calls from clients.
She convinced me to schedule blocks of time for uninterrupted work and blocks of time to check and reply to emails and phone calls. And it worked like a charm. Not only was I able to get my work done, but I was surprised by how much more responsive I was able to be in respect of my emails and phone calls when I had time dedicated specifically to these tasks.
Now that you have plenty of new ways to prioritize relaxation and know how to relax without guilt, it’s time to get started. Make relaxation time your new secret weapon so that you can become a productivity powerhouse and make your successes sustainable.
Heather Moulder is a career and life coach and the founder of Course Correction Coaching. She specializes in helping professional women have both a successful career and a happy home life with real work-life balance.
