When "Being Rushed" is the Problem

Psychologist, Dr. Bill Crawford, offers his thoughts on what to do when we are short on time, or how to speed up and get things done faster without the stress and increased mistakes so common to feeling rushed and rushing.

An episode of the Quotes from the Top of the Mind™ podcast, hosted by Bill Crawford, Ph.D., titled "When "Being Rushed" is the Problem" was published on March 11, 2009 and runs 8 minutes.

March 11, 2009 ·8m · Quotes from the Top of the Mind™

Summary

When being rushed is the problem, rushing is never the solution. If there is one thing that almost everyone can agree on today is that we all have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Whether it's meeting deadlines at work, picking up the groceries and the kids, getting that report out, or getting that school project in, this inequitable amount of work and time seems to be a fact of life for almost everyone. In this podcast, which is one in a series of weekly episodes from psychologist, Dr. Bill Crawford, he offers a quote on the subject, and some thoughts on what we can do to make the best use of our time, even when there isn't enough of it. For th ose of you familiar with Dr. Crawford’s "Top of the Mind" philosophy which is based upon the latest brain research, you know that the reason rushing in response to being rushed is doomed to failure is because we are being driven by the lower 20% of our brain. This part of the brain can only do two things, fight, or push harder and go faster (i.e. rush) or flight, give up, give in, and just stop trying. In fact, this is why well-meaning advice such as "just calm down" or "don't rush" never works. The lower 20% of the brain hears this as "give up" or "be late," and the part of us that knows how important it is for us to accomplish the task rejects this idea. Unfortunately, these only leave us with "fight", or go faster/rush, which would be fine if this actually helped us finish faster. However, this is rarely the case. As we all have experienced, when we rush, we make mistakes which require us to go back and repeat steps and since speed versus quality has become our prime objective, not only do we take longer, the quality of our work suffers. So, what's the solution? Are we supposed to just close our eyes and meditate when we are being rushed? No, when we are short on time, there is truth in the fact that working at our peak proficiency and finishing as soon as possible are valid and important goals. The question is how do we speed up without going so fast that we end up making mistakes and taking longer? The answer is "w e don't," meaning that our metabolism and the speed at which we do things aren’t like an accelerator on a car. We can't just speed up a little, because the reason for the speed (our concern that we will be late or not accomplish the task) throws us into the part of the brain that only knows "really fast" and "give up trying to make it on time" (fight or flight). No, the answer is to come from the other direction. In other words, let's use our natural tendency to increase adrenaline when pressed for time as a way to increase our focus on the task, and then take the manic or frantic edge off by enacting what Dr. Crawford calls "The 2% Solution." In his book, "Life from the Top of the Mind," he goes into detail about this concept. However, it's actually quite simple to describe. Basically, it's about just noticing when we are rushing in response to being rushed, and slowing down just 2%, or doing everything just 2% slower. There are several reasons this works. First, the ability to notice our speed and take that manic or frantic edge off by going 2% slower is driven by the upper 80% of the brain (versus the lower 20%). This means we are making purposeful choices versus reacting to a fear of being late. Secondly, we don't have to wrestle with the fear of giving up or giving in because we are only going 2% slower. Finally, when we notice that even as we slow down by 2% we are still going faster than we would if we had plenty of time, we feel good about our efforts to finish on time, and the fact that we are proceeding with speed, but not at a frantic or rushed pace. Put another way, rather than responding to being rushed with rushing, we are instead bringing our clarity, confidence, and creativity to the situation, and working effectively at the speed of life.

Episode Description