Do Pause

Life for many of us is a constant rush. The pace that we are used to and the commitments that we take on and the technology that enables (and obliges) us to constantly stay connected all contribute to us powering forward without coming up for air.

We have convinced ourselves that productivity justifies our existence and that every moment that we are not doing something is a waste of time. We have come to believe that slowing down, or even worse, stopping, is not only useless but it is counterproductive and so we avoid it at all costs.

Think about how many of us check our work emails on the train or in the evening after dinner. How many times have we ended up working on a presentation while we are travelling? At first glance, it could seem like a positive thing. Making the most of this time allows us to spend less time at our desks, so we should have more free time shouldn’t we? It would be a positive thing if we hadn’t developed the habit of filling the time that we have freed up with more work and more activity.

The problem with technology is that it offers us great opportunities, but nobody ever really told us how to make the best use of it. Instead of using it to improve our lives, we have changed our lives to suit technology.

“people are judged by how quickly they respond and not by the quality of their reply”

We have too much work, we are too stressed, and we don’t dare to think about what could happen if we stopped, even for a minute. This causes us to live life constantly in operative mode, but we cannot physically and mentally always be at our most productive, without ever stopping.