Hello to a new season! I love the autumn. The coolness (but not too cool yet), the foliage, the soups, maybe apple pie – and other harvest yummies. And let’s not forget: the feeling of a fresh start! Many people liken September to the ‘real new year’ (even more so than January for some). It feels like a bigger reset after a lengthy and more relaxed pace of summer. The busy season begins! But does it have to?

So now that we are diving back into a shiny new — and likely busy — season, I can’t help but ask:

 How Will You Grow from Here as You Navigate the Return Back to the Busy Season?

It’s a good question to consider at the beginning of something new or at a completion (a year, opportunity, challenge, milestone, birthday). Questions like this can open the door to more thoughtful and  purposeful ways to lean into our life with intention.  Growth mindsets help us self actualize, stay  fresh, relevant, and engaged in our work and lives. That’s the spirit of my annual year-end 12 Questions — which can be asked at any time of the year.

But what will growth mean for you this season (or year)? Back to the hustle bustle or what if you did less? Can less actually be more?

As we pursue personal and professional growth, many of us (self included) can become so busy we sometimes lose sight of what is already right in front of us that is good. We are always striving for more. I’m thinking of a conversation I had with “Sal”. He was feeling so much frustration because he didn’t see a next step immediately ahead of him within the organization he worked. There was lots of good in his current role, including opportunities to grow and learn, but the obsession with climbing the ladder as fast as he can highjacked his view of the good in the now.

Don’t get me wrong. There are many good reasons we want to grow. This focus and growth energy helps us flourish and do great things in the world — not just for ourselves but for others too.

This is a good thing. But not always. 

The go, go, striving for more  pace (faster, higher, more) of our hustle and ever-changing work culture can be hard to sustain and can sometimes deplete us rather than energize. Look around (or inward) to notice how many of us are wearing down. And this rushing, striving pace does not always satisfy our need for meaning in our work and lives.

Many people these days struggle with finding the balance. But rest and recover is essential. Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. Often the pursuit of balance involves taking time off for rest and recovery (which is good!) and the rest of our time is still insanely busy (often untenable), focused on more, faster, higher. Are we really doing this right?

A Better Way to Grow? Can Less Really Be More? 

Does growth always have to mean work harder, faster, do more? What if our growth can come from the lens of slower, doing a little less, and being softer with our relentless drive? If we were to change the ‘recipe’ for growth and put more attention on the often overlooked dimensions of what leads to flourishing – we may grow even deeper parts of ourselves and our efficacy in our work and lives. Maybe find more meaning; maybe even be more creative and productive.

Increasingly there’s more attention on the merits of slow and doing less. In his book, “Slow Productivity” Cal Newport makes a case for slowing down, going deeper, and kicking the tires on old patterns of excess busy as a path to productivity. And in recent video, Dan Pink, cites “Do Less” as one of best practices for getting more done and with better quality.

This go slower movement is not being championed by lazy laggards. Quite the opposite. Many highly accomplished people are pushing back and checking out the rewards offered in the slower lane. They are not giving up their personality, nor their quest for career and life success. They are just recalibrating and finding better ways to honour what our bodies, minds, and souls need to flourish. And it turns out this can often net out into better ways to contribute to work work and the world.

A Linkedin Post and article by Pam Mclean reflected this perfectly. As Founder and Chief Knowledge Institute of Hudson Institute of Coaching, Mclean has been a profound and accomplished change maker in the world of human potential, performance and development. On the threshold of a significant  milestone birthday she reflects on what she calls her “Private Rebellion”. She asks, “What if our most courageous act at this stage of life isn’t about striving to do more, but deliberately choosing to do less? Mclean calls out the misguided belief that doing nothing wastes precious time.  “ want to learn how to waste time and get nearly nothing done and feel good about a day of meandering….instead of fighting the discomfort of unproductivity,  I practice more stillness.”

Consider this in your own life. What would be possible if you took a closer look at your constant do-do-do busyness — and found ways to carve out ways to do a little less, go a little slower, and maybe learn how to press the pause button a little more often and try some stillness?

I know this sounds unrealistic or even unpalatable for some people. Especially if you are used to the go-go energy of fast paced work and life — not to mention the demands (oh yes, all those demands, how will they get done!?). And many of us are not yet in a stage of life that affords us to cut back too much without consequences. But I think it is a worthy exploration and pursuit to consider. Personally, I’m living into these questions myself. It’s not easy but it’s necessary.

If you are not yet at the life stage or have the circumstances to slow down as much as you might like, that’s okay. We can still find little pockets of slow. 

So many of us are in that camp. But we don’t have to wait for life to slow down for us. We can find and practice  more micro-moments and tiny opportunities to practice this right now. Here are just a few thoughts and reflection questions to get you started and more aware of your habits.

• Do you feel guilty taking a break? Do you feel you need to earn it by working excessively? Do you feel uncomfortable with some white space (not busy ‘doing’?)? Instead, can you challenge yourself to try on a new perspective? Perhaps reframe quality and strategic breaks as a tool for excellence and not a sign of lazyness or weakness.
• Do you constantly multi-task? Even at lunch, are you also reading/doing something else? Can you give yourself permission to  focus on one thing – perhaps eat, enjoy, let your mind rest and wander for a bit. And then see where it goes.
• Do you feel you need to fill up all your ‘down time’ with stimulus. On the bus or subway do you find yourself scrolling, or always listening to podcasts or books? The latter can be wonderful (not knocking them) but what if you were to experiment with occasionally being still and silent – even for just a bit. See what happens. You may be very surprised and see your brain rest and wander  and start to make new connections. The best ideas come when we stop our focused thinking and let our minds wander (there’s actually a lot of science around this).
• Is your list overflowing with too many impossible to accomplish items where everything looks like a priority? Can you chunk it down to ‘today’s essential priorities; things to keep an eye on for later (this week, month, etc.)?
• Are you addicted to the “Yes Habit” which only adds to your impossible to do list? Can you slow down your automatic ‘yes’ to discern if maybe this is not the right time to add something else to your load? Do you know how to say ‘no’ or ‘no, not now’. Check out some tips in this article.
• Can you walk your dog more often (even if you don’t have one:) to give your brain a rest? And again, if you enjoy listening to podcasts and books while you walk (not a bad thing), per tip above, try one day not adding that distraction into the walk. Notice what you notice. Notice what you feel after the walk.

Confession: I have always struggled with doing less as my ‘striver, passionate’ side of me always wants to do more stuff. But for me it is now essential. So I am learning to find merit in the slow and less where I can. And  invite you to consider this as a possibility for yourself too.

There are better ways to get stuff done, live a good life, and live and work with more meaning. Speaking of which as I quietly share this (if you got this far in this article). I am working on a “Better Way Academy” that will speak to these and other related “Better Ways” to live and work in these crazy busy demanding times. But no promises how fast I’ll launch. Because I am walking my talk and working slowly on this.

Here’s to more with less; growth with slow!

Eileen Chadnick, PCC, of Big Cheese Coaching, is an ICF credentialed, two-time ICF (International Coaching Federation) Prism award winner, who works with leaders (emerging to experienced), and organizations, on navigating, leading and flourishing in times of flux, opportunity and challenge. She is the author of Ease: Manage Overwhelm in Times of Crazy Busy. She is also a long-time, regular contributor at the Globe and Mail Work-Life section.