EMS Leadership Academy

Empowering Emergency Services Leaders

“Leadership is More Than a Position”
CALL 888-330-8288
  • Home
  • About
    • Events
    • The Academy
    • Lisa Giruzzi
    • Robbie MacCue
  • Keynotes
  • Hosted Courses
    • Online mini-Course
    • Keeping the Best™️
    • Board Basics Online
  • Blog Articles
    • ELA Articles
    • Talks & Resources
  • Shop
  • Contact us
  • Program Login
  • Community

Slow down to speed up.

By Lisa Giruzzi Leave a Comment

“I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much
as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”
– Joseph Campbell

When’s the last time you felt truly alive or were in the present moment experiencing life vs. hurrying, frantically trying to get it all done?

Most professionals today struggle to stay ahead of the game and are sacrificing the things that are most important to them in order to stay afloat.  Especially in emergency services, we’re used to operating in emergency mode. The good news is: our lives don’t have to operate in the same emergency mode. 99% of the time we are not dealing with life or death situations, so why make our organizations or lives live in a state of chaos and overwhelm?

What if you could easily change that without any loss of productivity or performance? It sounds too good to be true… It’s not.  Learning to slow down is the key to greater productivity and improved performance. It seems contradictory yet study after study shows this to be true.

Self care meter“Space in the head creates space at the conference table”1, in an article titled Embodied Mind Knowledge in Leadership Practice: Creating Space in Patterned Thoughts and Behaviors. Evaluate your ways of being and acting. Are you open or closed to other insights, is your mind relaxed or in a constant state of distress? Read more on on this topic in our EMS self-care article, Are you taking care of you.

Why is is so difficult to believe and implement?

One reason is we are fighting our own evolution. When we get stressed or perceive a threat it triggers the flight or fight response known as the Amygdala Hijack. The threat can be a thought such as “I’m going to get in trouble if I don’t get this all done” or “They are going to find out I’m not good enough if I don’t …” or “I’m going to lose my job if I don’t…”

Once the Amygdala is triggered the brain goes into survival mode and rational, creative thinking goes out the window.

Keys for EMS performanceWhen you slow down and begin to examine your thoughts and fears, it allows the higher functioning parts of the brain to engage, enabling more creative thinking.

The most challenging part of this is when everyone around you is speeding up, it can look like the thing to do. When I catch myself falling into this pattern I remember what my Mom used to always say, “If everyone else jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge would you jump too?”

I am a firm believer of doing what works and slowing down truly works to become more enlivened as well as more productive.

How, you ask?  

Here are a few ideas for productivity & performance that truly work:

  • Set an alarm on your phone to go off several times throughout the day to remind you to take 4 to 5 slow, deep breaths. Count to 5 on the inhale and count to 6 on the exhale. This simple technique is a mini-meditation that will get you present.
  • Focusing on clearing your mind for 5 minutes a day can have dramatic effects within just a few consecutive days. Another great resources is Dr. Scott Weingart’s talk on Mindfulness & Meditation for medical providers, via the EMCrit podcast.
  • Do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is not effective. Your brain works at its best when it does one thing at a time. Work on one thing to completion, then work on the next thing.
  • Make sure everything on your to-do list has a time assigned to it when you will get it done. Most people make the mistake of creating a to do list without scheduling a time to actually do it. This leads to overwhelm.
  • Turn off your email notifications and check it twice a day. Constant notifications will easily distract and lead to overwhelm. If it’s that important, someone will call you.

 

Please share in the comments below, what has worked for you? We’re always looking to share how others have created positive results.

 

1-Journal of Management Inquiry, 2014, Vol. 23(3) 231–241, Karssiens, et al

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Lisa Giruzzi
Lisa Giruzzi
Lisa is a best-selling author, result-producing consultant and an award-winning trainer with more than twenty-five years’ experience helping individuals and organizations to be more successful and achieve their goals. She specializes in causing breakthrough results for her clients by giving them access to a whole new level of power and performance.
Lisa Giruzzi
Latest posts by Lisa Giruzzi (see all)
  • Why Retention is the Key to Recruitment - July 17, 2021
  • The Importance of Leading From a Vision - January 17, 2021
  • Are You Willing? 3 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself - January 31, 2020

Filed Under: @911Leadership Monthly, Blog, Front Page Resources, Slider

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Third Annual EMS Leadership Summit

911 Leadership Newsletter

Newsletter signup

Subscribe to our @911Leadership list

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!

OUR ONLINE MINI COURSE

Sign-up for our online Mini Course. A cutting edge tool based on Three Little-Known Communication Strategies Guaranteed to Breathe Life into Your Organization!

Our Book

Making Good of the Order
the BEST Part of Your Meetings



Now Shipping. Read more...

Our Popular Articles

  • EMS Staffing & Support Act – S.3910 – Advocacy Newsflash
  • EMS Leadership LIVE, Feb 2, 3, & 4, 2022
  • Roundtable: Safety in EMS
  • Recruitment & Retention Free Training – January 2022
  • Recruitment & Retention Free Training – Nov 22 & 24, 2021

Our Resources

  • Contact us for a free strategy Session
  • Online communications eCourse
  • Shop - Book & Audio Program

Navigate

  • HOME
  • About the EMS Leadership Aacademy
  • Free Resources
  • Our new Book & other Resources
  • Upcoming Courses
  • Contact Us

About EMS Leadership Academy

Our purpose is to be the source of transformational leadership in Emergency Services.

We empower leaders to cause other leaders and to create bold visions that redefine the future of their organization and Emergency Services worldwide.

Our work causes lasting, positive, sustainable change.

The Keys to NOT doing it all yourself

Contact

Albany, NY 12205

PHONE: 888-330-8288
EMAIL: [email protected]

Copyright © 2022 ·Metro Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in