We humans are so silly and on top of that were fun to watch! Heres one thing that immediately comes to mind. For some strange reason, when were running behind schedule we have a tendency to try to make up time by moving faster or even driving faster. Well, it only makes sense you say? Faster means well be able to accomplish more or cover ground more quickly and therefore of course, well be more likely to accomplish our goals on our pre-established mental schedule.

Oh, really?

Lets look at our personal, physical movements. Heres an example. Its Monday morning (yugggg) and we need to be at work by 8:00 am. This is not surprising news to us weve known about it for a long, long time. We also know that it normally takes at least 30 minutes to make the drive to our workplace. Therefore, through the process of simple subtraction we know that to make it to work on time, we need to leave our humble abode no later than 7:30 am.

This morning (Monday, remember) for whatever reason, were running behind our usual schedule. Suddenly, we realize that its 7:25 and we still need to finish getting dressed, comb our hair, feed the cat, close the bedroom window because its supposed to rain today, turn off the TV, find our umbrella, find the car keys and leave. Damn We need to get movin! We need to HURRY!

Theoretically, its a good plan. However, there are just a couple of drawbacks to this hurry stuff. First, from what Ive seen, our little brains are in the habit of operating at a certain speed. Its a personal thing. Some folks thinkers work fairly fast while others of us process information more slowly. Since our brain is ultimately responsible for controlling our physical movements, we normally operate (move around and do stuff) at a fairly predictable and comfortable - rate of speed.

The need to hurry up moves us right out of our comfort zone and commonly as a result, our little brain starts trying to process information and at the same time control movements at a faster rate than normal. So what happens? Our brain signals start to get screwed up. You know what I mean. Getting dressed can turn into a major chore. OK, wheres my shirt? No, not that one the other one. OK, got it. Belt? Wheres the belt? OK, got it. Through the loops. Faster gotta hurry! Need to feed the cat. Where are those damn keys? One more loop to go. Window cant forget the window! Cat. Loop last loop. Umbrella. Faster! Oh, man its twenty-seven after! Socks shoes. Ok, buckle crap, missed a loop gotta hurry faster cat keys socks umbrella faster faster

Now admittedly, there are probably a few of us who are able to make the transition to a faster operating (brain processing) speed quite easily. I think I heard that theyre living somewhere in New Jersey. The rest of us however, tend to boink out rather quickly. As a result, the really simple tasks that we can normally take care of in oh, say four minutes wind up being a major chore that were still struggling with ten minutes later. This hurry up stuff has wound up costing us a whole bunch of time.

Now just for the sake of discussion and a quick look at the other side of the picture, lets say we are actually able to move smoothly and logically at a more rapid pace than usual. Lets say we are able to get a twenty percent improvement. Thats actually pretty good because when you get right down to it, its just going to take a certain amount of time to do specific things and nothing we do can help make it happen any faster. Think about it. How fast can you tie your shoes or put on a belt or comb your hair. Theres a limit isnt there?

So if we were able to make a twenty percent improvement on tasks that normally took five minutes hot dang, weve saved a FULL MINUTE! Call out the cheerleaders! Call Channel 10! Whoopie Dooo!!! Be honest now. Will 60 seconds really make all that much difference in your schedule? I think not. Somewhere between here and there, those 60 seconds will vaporize anyway. (Should I remind you that you forgot to take a whiz before you walked out and locked the door?) You get my drift

I learned a long time ago that hurry up just doesnt work out all that well. Ive found that if I just move at a normal, comfortable speed and logically transition from one task to the next (without becoming diverted by thoughts of things yet to be done), Im able to finish what I need to do fairly quickly and without any uncomfortable increases in stress.

Sooo if youre in the habit of trying to hurry up by moving faster and you find that its not been working out that well for you my suggestion would be to try the opposite approach. Force yourself to slow down and let your brain work at its normal, comfortable speed. No, you may not gain any time by doing this, but at least you probably wont lose any and maybe more importantly, youll have minimized one more potential source of stress in your day. Thats a very good thing, Id say