Tip#14: It’s Okay To Slow Down - Local Hero

Sometimes it is tough to slow down when you are on a roll with work. It takes a lot of will power to just say no to the pile of work sitting in front of you. And if you are successful you will discover many hidden benefits.

For the past week I'd been busy sending holiday email greetings out and 1/4 of them auto responded that they were on vacation. I'd been working intensely this December that it only dawned on me at that moment Christmas day was right around the corner. This surprised me because normally I enjoy slowing down at this time of year and not think of business at all.

Local Hero (1983)

The comedy drama film, Local Hero is about an American businessman (Peter Riegert) sent to a Scottish village to make a major purchase of the land and beach area. What ends up happening is he slowly falls in love with the land. He lets go of his strict, regimented business attitude and allows the beautiful, new surroundings into his soul.

The quiet charm of the townsfolk and the open air land was a big contrast to the early scenes of a busy big city buzz. There is one scene where the businessman is in the town's tiny convenience store with just the essentials like toothpaste. There weren't several brands of toothpaste to choose from. Just one. Simple. Can you see how attractive that can be?

It was interesting to watch him day-by-day slowly let go of his usual routine of dressing in his suit like not wearing his tie one day and later his jacket and then his wrist watch. It's a wonderful metaphor that time slows down when you are away from technology. His spirit begins to breathe again. He realizes in the end how empty his old life and corporate world is after having experienced this unexpected vacation.

So even though I was surprised that the holidays were upon us I am grateful for the email auto responses reminding me that it was okay to slow down. I really wanted to keep working at full throttle but for now I've set myself on neutral to spend time with family, friends and catch up with my backed up list of movies I wanted to see.

Sometimes it's not easy to slow down but in the end it'll give you a chance to clear your head. You'll feel more energized. The yearly winter holidays are here to stay so allow yourself to go with the flow of the days your city or town shuts down.

Happy holidays to you all and hope you enjoy some quality time with your friends, family and maybe your favourite pastimes and passions.

Emmanuel Lopez
www.motivatorman.com
© Emmanuel Lopez 2006