Get up. Start work. End work. Eat dinner. Get a few things done. Sleep. Rinse and repeat.
Sometimes it can feel like weeks, months, or even years, fly by without feeling like much has happened.
As a time management coach, I help clients make many tasks in life automatic so that they can accomplish more in less time and with less effort. To optimize our efficiency and effectiveness, routine is a necessary part of our lives. The only issue is when you’re so systematized that you’re not fully experiencing the joy and meaning in your life. You’re just checking things off the list.
(Do you need help establishing routines and systems to make space for more joy? Pick a time to connect here: Elizabeth’s Schedule)
But what if there could be some simple, accessible ways to slow down the passage of time and fully engage in your life? I’m here to offer you good news: There are.
Summary
- Many people live in a repetitive routine (work, eat, sleep, repeat) that can make weeks or months fly by without meaningful experiences.
- Routines help with efficiency, but they can rob life of joy and presence if you’re just checking boxes.
Key Takeaways
- Savor the Little Things: Mindful attention helps you feel more present and emotionally connected to your life.
- Sprinkle in Novelty: Novel experiences activate the brain, making time feel slower and more memorable.
- Stop Trying to Keep Up: Reduces stress, increases mental space, and enhances satisfaction.
But what if there could be some simple, accessible ways to slow down the passage of time and fully engage in your life? I’m here to offer you good news: There are.
With these three simple tricks, you can start to feel like you’re experiencing your days instead of speeding through them.
Savor the Little Things
Life’s simple, everyday moments can be incredibly satisfying, if you let them. But so often, we’re rushing through an activity or multitasking through it so much so that it simply passes us by.
Researchers encourage mindful attention where you take notice of what’s happening in familiar experiences to sensitize yourself to the joy they offer.
I’ve found that some small, intentional choices can make a big difference in my life. One ritual that I’ve incorporated when the weather is nice is to sit outside during lunch and eat without doing anything else in particular. This little break to just stop and notice the grass, the trees, the flowers, the birds, and anything else around me helps me to fully experience the beauty of the season.
Another choice that I’ve made is when I hold my daughter at night before bed to keep my phone away from me. It’s not a very long time—just about 10 minutes—before I lay her down in her crib for the night. Although the time is short, I find it’s some of the moments that I stop and appreciate the gift of her precious life the most. She’s growing so quickly, and I don’t want to miss out on enjoying my daughter because I’m doing something else while I’m with her or always trying to head on to the next activity.
How about you? Is there an area where you could stop multitasking and more fully enjoy the precious moments around you?
Sprinkle in Novelty
Another way to extend the feeling of time is to sprinkle in dashes of the out-of-the-ordinary that break up your routine. When you’re only doing your habits, your brain blends together the experiences from day-to-day. But when you do something distinctive, you experience the novelty effect where your brain has a higher state of attention and stores the experience as a separate and distinct memory.
This could look like signing up to attend larger events like going to a new work conference or taking a vacation to explore a different locale. Or you can add in novelty in much smaller ways throughout your weeks to help you feel like life isn’t passing by in a blur.
On the professional side, small moments of novelty could look like adding in some networking lunches or events where you connect with new people and see new places. Or it could look like learning a new skill that you haven’t tried your hand at before. Or it could look like setting up your computer at a new coworking space or coffee shop.
On the personal side, you could attend a local festival instead of watching Netflix, check out a new restaurant in town instead of going to the place where you’re a regular, or try out a new workout class instead of going to the one you’ve attended for years.
It’s completely fine—and even good—to have routines and do standard things you enjoy. But mixing up your experience every once in a while can help you slow down your subjective experience of time.
Is there some novel experience you could insert in your life this week?
Stop Trying to Keep Up
To read all the details on the final tip, check out the original article in Fast Company here: 3 Tips for Getting More Satisfaction Out of Your Routine
If you feel like the lack of routine and structure to your day makes these tips unattainable, I am here to help. Pick a time to connect and see if coaching is the right fit for you: Elizabeth’s Schedule)
About Real Life E
Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time management coach and best-selling author who empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished. She helps people struggling with new levels of responsibility after receiving a promotion or becoming a parent, who aren’t meeting expectations at work, or who need better work-life balance to overcome burnout.
Elizabeth was named one of the World’s Top 30 Time Management Professionals by Global Gurus every year since 2018 and is a member of Forbes Coaches Council. McGraw Hill published her first book The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success with Less Stress. Harvard Business Review published her second book How to Invest Your Time Like Money. And FaithWords published her third book Divine Time Management. Elizabeth regularly writes time management articles for Harvard Business Review and Fast Company and has appeared on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox.
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