What I learned from slow productivity

I used to wear chaos like a badge. Multitasking. Spinning plates. Running at 120%.

If I wasn’t sprinting from one fire to the next, I assumed I was slacking. If my calendar wasn’t packed edge to edge, I felt behind.

After nearly twenty years, two kids and cancer. Two decades, two kids later, cancer and a pulmonary embolism later, I see it differently.

Back then, always on felt like the only way to survive. Every problem became my problem. Every task felt urgent. I switched context so fast I would forget what I started an hour earlier. Live like that long enough and it becomes part of your identity. You start believing that being busy is the work.

Life slows you down whether you want it to or not. For me it was not one moment. It was a string of them. Health scares that stopped me in my tracks. Becoming a parent and realising my kids did not care how many projects I was juggling, only whether I was there. Enough years in the trenches to see that chaos is not high performance. It is a sign your systems are not working.

These days I work slower. Not lazy slow. Deliberate slow. One thing at a time. Finish it. Move on. Build a rhythm where deep work can happen. Keep priorities clear so the urgent does not bulldoze the important.

Chaos still shows up. A client crisis. A system outage. When it happens, you deal with it. Fix what is broken. Then return to slow. The difference now is I do not live in firefighting mode like it is normal. It is not. It is survival mode. Stay there long enough and it breaks you.

If I could tell my younger self one operational lesson, it would be this: constant chaos is not proof you matter. It is proof your systems need work. Build the foundation. Learn to slow down. When things hit the fan, handle it and then reset. Your health, your team, and your results will thank you.

Try this next week

• Pick one priority each day and protect 90 minutes for it. No tabs. No messages. Just the one thing.
• Set a cutoff for emergencies. Define what counts as urgent and what does not. Tell your team.
• End the day by resetting your system. Capture loose tasks, choose tomorrow’s one thing, then close the laptop.

Remember, slowing down isn't about doing less. It's about doing the right thing with a clear head so you can keep doing it long term.