Your goals sound similar to mine, I too stopped working as a full time salaried employee and became a consultant. That does give you control over your time, and allows you to slow down your life, but only if you commit yourself to that. It's all too easy to let clients soak up all of your time. I've found I have to set firm boundaries both in my own mind, and explicitly with my clients. As an example, for the last few years I've not worked Mondays. I make it clear to myself and my clients that Mondays are for doing those things I wouldn't have time for otherwise - reading books, watching plays, visiting with friends (or in my case, working on little hardware projects that bring me joy but aren't for a client.)
The hardest thing for me was becoming more comfortable in enforcing that limit, and saying "no" to clients. "I'm sorry I can't come to that meeting, I don't work Mondays." I've learned you don't have to give an explanation, just "I don't work Mondays." Smile, and if they ask why I just say "I only work four days a week." And I keep strict "work hours" as well. I set aside time for reading, for cooking, for doing ceramics, the things I know give me pleasure and energize me. The best part of slowing down is making more space in my life for the things I love most. Stepping back and taking a clear-eyed look at those things and those people that I actually enjoy, and not paying so much attention to the things I think I'm *supposed* to enjoy. Mostly what slowing down has allowed me to do is to *stop* doing things. Things that don't give back joy or energy in proportion to the time they take. So I just spent three weeks in Tasmania, in a campervan. Each morning we'd decide where we wanted to go (within at most 2 hours of driving) and then go there. Set up camp, and just be wherever we were. It was glorious. Tasmania is incredibly beautiful, and it can feel almost uninhabited. -- Charles On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 at 16:32 Venkat <s...@venkatmangudi.com> wrote: > > > On 23/01/17 10:49 AM, Udhay Shankar N wrote: > > On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 2:48 PM, Venkatesh Hariharan <ven...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > "What do you.love the most about living a slower life?" > > > > > > To be able to do things on the spur of the moment. This is more a goal > > than an achievement at this point, but still. > > > > Oh, and naps. One of the great pleasures of life and a criminally > > underrated productivity enhancer. > And travel. Although I would not call mine a slow life, I took off for > Kabini on a whim last Tuesday and spent a few days there. But I am > gainfully employed with some freedom. > > -- > > Cheers, > Venkat > > >
