How to slow down without losing momentum

We all could need a little more Zen in our days, right?

Often we are just so busy, rushing from A to Z and back to B throughout our days, but we forget to take a little break here and there, slow down and enjoy. We forget to rest because quite frankly: we don’t give “rest” enough value because we don’t know how to slow down without losing momentum.

Why? Somehow we associate rest with weakness. Not achieving anything. No growth.

But we couldn’t be farther from the truth. So to show you that rest – in any form and method – is absolutely needed, let’s take 2 analogies that most of us should definitely know and understand:

1| MUSCLE GROWTH

Building muscles work in a very specific way. You have to go to the gym, work on muscle groups, do specific exercises. Stretch. REST. Repeat.

Yes. Rest. Your muscles do not grow during all the hours you put into working it out but when you actually rest. That’s it. It does grow when you do NOTHING. Obviously only if you go through this cycle in repeat and the rest period does not become your new form of being. But it does take its new form during the time you do not work on it.

This is the same with our minds. It does grow when we leave it and rest. We keep learning, adding knowledge, or going through painful periods outside of our comfort zone but the true growth happens to our mind, spirit, and brain when it is processing all of that information – and that ONLY happens when you rest, slow down and enjoy. This is why, it is very important to learn how to slow down.

2| BAKING BREAD

You’ll be laughing hard now, do you? I am gonna compare growing our business and ourselves to baking bread. Yes, you bet! See here is the thing, it’s the easiest to understand how to slow down without losing momentum works and how this results in growth:

You take a big bowl, you add all of the ingredients, you mix it all up, put in the work, and give it a real good squeeze – then you gotta cover the bowl, put it in the fridge, and: Let it rest. Why? Because the bread dough must grow. It can not grow when you pull, squeeze and work on it. It can only grow when it rests.

If it does rest long enough it will be the most fluffy, most delicious bread around.

So let’s bake some fluffy business bread, shall we?

I know you are busy, you ain’t got time for baking or anything close, so let’s keep it stupid simple instead.

With these 5 apps, you can add some resting time to your day that will help you slow down so you can speed up! It will help you calm your mind, take some deep breaths and make sure you recharge your energy for the next big push.

Ready? Let’s do it.

Insight Timer

Where to find it?
https://insighttimer.com/

What to find there?
This app is pretty extraordinaire for what it does & offers, even already in the free version. It has the most extensive library of guided meditations, spiritual talks & music to offer out there to support your mindfulness. It is a great tool for you to learn how to slow down.

You can choose any topics, benefits or features and start right away. No long overthinking about what to meditate on (yep, that’s totally me!) or how you can best fall asleep and benefit from some subtle affirmations.

Why do you want to use it?
If you don’t yet experience the many benefits of mediation, you are not convinced about them or you simply won’t want to believe that this could give you any type of beneficial rest – then please read any of the many studies out there that show how meditation helps improve our mind, body & spirit like this one from Harvard

So in short:
With meditation, you can get very beneficial rest in a very short time AND you can get better results such as more focus, less pain, more revenue, and other benefits by adding as low as 15min. meditation a day. Convinced? Then get Insight Timer & get started today!

MindBell

Where to find it?
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.googlecode.mindbell

iOS alternative: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mindfulness-bell/id380816407

What to find there?
Literally my favorite app of them all. This is an app with a Tibetan singing bowl that rings at random times (or whenever you put the timer in) during the day and reminds you to stop, breathe & slow down.

In the Android version, you can choose different time intervals, length, volume, and sounds & even set a little reminder message for you to pop up. Mine says “Smile & Breathe” – which I do every time it rings. The bell starts with a gong and holds the sound for about 20 seconds in my version, which is a great time to stop what I do, take a deep breath, and smile in gratitude.

Why do you want to use it?
If you were wondering how to slow down, this is the perfect app for you. We all know that breathing is the fuel of life. But we do not breathe deep enough anymore. Stress, overwhelm & exhaustion is taking our breath away and we rush through the days and nights without ever noticing that we are out of breath. Literally.
Slowing down, Breathing deep, and smiling brightly for a few seconds multiple times a day has a powerful effect o your body, mind, and spirit:

First of all, breathing deep transports oxygen-rich blood deep into all of our cells, into our gut, and our brain. Where all the action happens. The richer our blood of oxygen the more energy and healing powers we can get.
Smiling for no other reason than being grateful or content at the moment gives your brain the signal that we are safe and happy.

So in short:
With no effort, it brings gratitude, deep breathing, and a smile on your face back into your life if you let it. It has been one of the most beautiful additions to my day, as I do take the time when the bell rings to stop, breathe & smile and just be in the moment and realize how magical this life we live in is.

OURA Ring

Where to find it?
www.ouraring.com

What to find there?
The OURA Ring is not only stylish but also extremely helpful for all entrepreneurs who are looking to improve sleep, rest, avoid burnout, and reduce stress in their lives. The ring helps you track your sleep with a very specific presentation of sleep phases, heart rate variability and resting heart rate, and your daily activity as well as giving scores for achieving ‘goals’ that are specific to your age, weight, height, and other indicators that you will set up in the app before.

Why do you want to use it?
Improving your sleep is one of the most important factors in the process of learning how to slow down. If you (like me) have trouble sleeping in any way, like having a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep throughout the night, or not getting a restful sleep (or all of them – oops) then the OURA Ring is a great start to change that. We all know (well hopefully you do by now!) that sleep is one of the most important “activities” that we can do for our bodies.

Improving your sleep can improve all of the areas in your life (such as business, relationships, health & wealth) already tremendously, as studies have shown. So why wouldn’t you want to improve it as much as possible?
It also recently upgraded to a new meditation feature called momentum, which tracks the rest you’ll get during meditation & gives you a body reset. You can choose between guided & unguided meditations or rest sessions.

So in short:
Improving your sleep means improving your life and the OURA Ring is the best way to get started and dive into it head-on.

Forest App

Where to find it?
https://www.forestapp.cc/

What to find there?
Forest is an app to help you focus on the important things in life and stay away from distractions. With the help of a beautiful design and gamification, it keeps the user in the app & actually using it. The app works like an accountability partner. Each time you want to focus on something, you plant a new tree. There are plenty to choose from in the free version. You can create your own type of forest and grow trees within it. Should you disrupt the process & use the phone or close the app and stop focusing on your task for the time you set up, your tree will die (ouch)

Why do you want to use it?
Let’s be honest – none of us is safe from shiny object syndrome unless we have been practicing how to focus and re-focus for a while. So the best way how to start (or get back into it) is with some accountability. This can be done through a work buddy, or even in some type of mastermind group setting – but another great way to do so is this app. Often apps miss out on the opportunity to keep people active and engaged, but through its beautiful interface and gamification of this app, there is a good chance you want to keep using this app once you started getting a hang of it.

So in short:
A great app to practice how to slow down, focusing & being present in a world full of shiny objects. The gamification is beautiful, too so it really encourages you to stay on track & plant more trees. But what motivates me to use it is the effort Forest has taken to create Social Impact, too.
“Forest team partners with a real-tree-planting organization, Trees for the Future, to plant real trees on Earth. When our users spend virtual coins they earn in Forest on planting real trees, the Forest team donates to our partner and creates planting orders.” (from their website)

5-Minute Journal App

Where to find it?
https://www.intelligentchange.com/pages/five-minute-journal-app

What to find there?
I love all things that Intelligent Change creates, so this app is just one of these things and it is a great option for those in the journey of learning how to slow down. The app gives you daily gratitude and journal prompts, that will only take 300 seconds (or 5 minutes) to answer but it will help you to start off your day in a powerful way.

Why do you want to use it?
It’s been shown that an attitude of gratitude brings not only more contentment in your life but can also help to reduce anxiety, depression & overwhelm. Many people would like to start journaling but they don’t know how, they are not big writers and loathe the thought of using a pen and a notebook. They are so emerged in the digital age, that they are looking for a solution they can take anywhere with them. So this is a simple, beautiful & very helpful app you can download and use daily. There is no fluff, no extras you don’t need, nothing to distract you from the actual use of it: Be grateful for what is.

So in short:
A great app for those who want to constantly reflect and improve their lives but do not want/need to write in free form, instead like a simple guided form of capturing their gratitude and even a photo memory of the day. 

So, now that you know how to slow down without losing momentum, let me know in the comments below which one of these apps you would like to try to be more present in the moment.