44. The Cost of Constantly Rushing and Why Slowing Down Is the Key to Success
Do you ever feel like you're constantly rushing through life, trying to check off an endless to-do list? In a world that rewards productivity and busyness, it's easy to get caught up in the cycle of doing more and more. This might feel especially pronounced for you while preparing for the holidays. But what if there was a better way?
In this episode of Ambitious-Ish, we revisit one of our early episodes to explore the concept of embracing spaciousness in your life. We dive into the costs of constantly rushing and the benefits of slowing down and creating more time for what truly matters.
Join us this week as we challenge the notion that our worth is tied to our accomplishments and offer practical tips for rewriting your time story. Get ready to discover why time is the ultimate luxury item and how you can start enjoying the life you've worked so hard to create.
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What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why rushing through life has little upside and can actually drain your energy.
How constantly being in survival mode impacts your creativity, patience, and presence.
The self-fulfilling prophecy of telling yourself you don't have enough time.
How small moments of presence and connection add up to a more enjoyable life.
Why time is the new luxury item and how to start rewriting your time story.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
Kelle: Ever have one of those days where every light needs to be green to get it all done? Like, you were supposed to be somewhere five minutes ago, and you haven’t left yet. When we think of the holidays, it’s synonymous with busy—but does it have to be? Okay, picture this: you’re hustling, racing against the clock. But what if we told you there’s little upside to rushing? Join us as we take a trip into the archives to revisit one of our very first episodes of Ambitious-Ish—and still one of my personal favs, by the way—exploring why embracing spaciousness in your life just might be the missing piece to your Ambitious-Ish puzzle.
Stay tuned, because in this fast-paced world we live in, time isn’t just a commodity; it’s the luxury item everyone wants this New Year. Alright, let’s get going—this is Ambitious-Ish.
Burnout, check. Daily overwhelm, check. Resentment rash, stress, and a complete lack of well-being check, check, check. You’re not alone. We’re your hosts, Kelle, and Nina, and we’re here to help you feel calm, balanced, and empowered so you can redefine success, make choices that feel authentic and actually enjoy the life you work so hard to create. Are you ready? Let’s go.
Kelle: Hey, hey, Kelle here.
Nina: And Nina here. Welcome to the second episode of Ambitious-Ish.
Kelle: We’re pumped to be here after another snowy weekend here in Park City. The storm of the century pulled in and buried us. It was by no means that big of a storm but that’s what they called it on the news.
Nina: Anyway, that’s behind us. Let’s dive in.
Kelle: Picture this, it’s mid-morning on a stunningly gorgeous blue bird Tuesday. A client we’ve been working with for just over a month had an extra 20 minutes in her day. She had a choice, she said, “I could go run an errand and then be three minutes late and rush to my lunch meeting with a colleague, or I can be early to my lunch meeting.”
Nina: If this was you, which would you choose? Before you even answer, consider this. What is the upside of rushing? We noodled on this a bit. Obviously there is efficiency. You get more done. You get to cross more off your expanding list, your ever expanding list.
Kelle: Yeah. Then there is an opportunity to reward yourself for all you’ve accomplished, but do we ever really even do that?
Nina: No. No.
Kelle: And if this resonates, if this sounds like you, there’s no shame. We used to do this too.
Nina: Yeah, I know for me, if I get to cross off an extra thing I need to do, there’s a few seconds of a rush of dopamine, a quick hit and then I’m onto the next thing. That’s about it.
Kelle: Yeah. Another possible upside is that you create momentum in your day. You get into the flow where you get into the zone, and it feels easier to focus on tasks and finish them.
Nina: Many of us are overwhelmed on a daily basis. You may feel like you’re sprinting through life. You go to bed thinking about what didn’t get done. You wake up thinking about everything you have to do and have no idea how it’s all going to happen.
Kelle: And it totally makes sense. As humans socialized as women, we’re rewarded by our productivity. We’re praised by how much we get done. Actually I take that back. We’re not even praised for how much we get done. It’s just expected of us that we get it all done. The system we live in, screws women, especially. What’s expected of us, how our culture teaches what it looks like to be successful, how we’ve been conditioned to measure our worth and our value by our accomplishments.
Nina: It’s complete BS. The world needs to change. And let’s be honest, the world isn’t going to change by itself. We have to make the change. You have to make the decision that you’re more important than what’s on your list. It starts with you. If you want to be more calm and more present in your life, more engaged and connected, running that extra errand isn’t going to get you there.
Kelle: Okay, let’s talk about what it costs you to run that extra errand that will then make you late. You get a mini rush of adrenaline and start driving away from your lunch and towards the errand. By understanding, you don’t quite have enough time to get it done and be on time, you’re opting into putting yourself into fight, flight or freeze, aka survival mode.
Nina: Survival mode, this is where our cortisol levels spike. Doing the extra task is an energy drain. It does not give you energy. That dopamine hit is short lived, and then it can actually take away from your energy. It’s taking away from your ability to be present in your life. It’s not life giving, it’s life draining. So another cost, by choosing to push yourself and run late, you’ve eliminated the space for actually being creative. When you’re in survival mode, you’re not creative because your brain has shut that part down. It’s just trying to cope with what’s happening at the moment.
Kelle: And you’re likely going to feel impatient. There are other drivers on the road, some are rushing, and some are not. So then you get to this lunch meeting, and you show up frazzled and sweaty, we love that, unorganized, maybe even apologetic. You have less capacity to problem solve, to think creatively and clearly.
Nina: We make ourselves rush by overscheduling. We try to jam too many things into too little time, and we make ourselves late almost on purpose. We no longer only rush when we’re late. It’s the habit of busy that we create, this belief that we source our value from what we accomplish, GSD all day long.
Kelle: And we get it. We love getting shit done. That hit we get from crossing one more thing off the list feels incredible, so good in the moment. But doing it on repeat day after day after day, it’s exhausting. It doesn’t make us better. It actually keeps us the same, overdoing, and overwhelmed.
Nina: Yeah. So back to that client. She had a choice to get to her lunch meeting 20 minutes early or run that errand that would make her three minutes late. She chose to be 20 minutes early. In her words, she was able to show up at her lunch meeting, calm and organized, prepared and ready. She created space for herself to breathe, to feel confident and at ease. It almost felt, well, luxurious.
Kelle: Yes. And she was able to be more present for herself and her colleague while she was at the meeting. She showed herself that she could trust herself to make decisions that were for her, that added to her health and happiness. She had the capacity to notice little things like the birds chirping. She had time to preview the menu, take in the lovely sounds and delicious smells. She ran into a friend she hadn’t seen in a while and had a moment to catch up.
Nina: She had plenty of time. I mean, sure, we can run all day long, we did it for years and we’re not perfect, we still do when we add too much to our plate, pushing ourselves, but for what and for who?
Kelle: When you’re feeling the need to push yourself, what are you telling yourself? Can you notice the sentences running through your mind? Just take a moment and check-in.
Nina: When you’re telling yourself you need to get one more thing done, why? And how does that make you feel? When you tell yourself you don’t have enough time, you end up not having enough time. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy and we’re sort of perpetuating the problem. How does that make you feel? Anxious? Overwhelmed?
Kelle: The truth, when you’re rushing, life’s a blur, you’re moving so fast there’s no room to notice the small moments in life. And really, the small moments they add up to more presence, more connection, and more energy for what matters most.
Nina: It’s a really big part of actually enjoying the life you work so hard to create. That’s why we believe the new idea of luxury is an unrushed life. When you live an unrushed life, you have enough of the one resource you can’t get more of. Time is the luxury item.
Kelle: So we want to offer that you swap that time scarcity story. What if instead of telling yourself you don’t have enough time, you told yourself, I’m learning that I have enough time. I’m becoming a person who has enough time. I have enough time. I have plenty of time.
Nina: Write these four phrases down, put them on sticky notes on your bathroom mirror and in your notes on the phone, your notes app. Set an alarm to remind yourself over and over, you have enough time, rock star. Stay tuned in. We’re going to be talking a lot more about this because time impacts everything we do.
Kelle: Remember, your worth has nothing to do with how much you get done each day. You’re amazing and you’re worthy no matter what your desk, your email box or your life looks like.
Nina: Yeah, rewriting your time story is a huge part of actually enjoying the life you work so hard to create.
Kelle: If you like what you’re hearing here and you know people that would love this, please share it with them.
Nina: Yeah, thanks for being here. See you next time.
Kelle: Yeah, see you next time.
Nina: Hey everyone, if you want more live access to me and Kelle, you have to join our email list.
Kelle: Yes, we’ll come to your email box every Tuesday and Thursday.
Nina: You can ask us questions, get clarity and get coached.
Kelle: We offer monthly free email coaching when you’re on our list and you’re the first to know about trainings, events and other free coaching opportunities.
Nina: Just go to kelleandnina.com. That’s K E L L E and nina.com to sign up.
Kelle: Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Ambitious-Ish.
Nina: If you’re ready to align your ambitions with your heart and feel more calm, balanced, and connected, visit https://www.kelleandnina.com/ for more information about how to work with us and make sure you get on our list.
Kelle: See you in the next episode!
Stay tuned, because in this fast-paced world we live in, time isn’t just a commodity; it’s the luxury item everyone wants this New Year. Alright, let’s get going—this is Ambitious-Ish.
Burnout, check. Daily overwhelm, check. Resentment rash, stress, and a complete lack of well-being check, check, check. You’re not alone. We’re your hosts, Kelle, and Nina, and we’re here to help you feel calm, balanced, and empowered so you can redefine success, make choices that feel authentic and actually enjoy the life you work so hard to create. Are you ready? Let’s go.
Kelle: Hey, hey, Kelle here.
Nina: And Nina here. Welcome to the second episode of Ambitious-Ish.
Kelle: We’re pumped to be here after another snowy weekend here in Park City. The storm of the century pulled in and buried us. It was by no means that big of a storm but that’s what they called it on the news.
Nina: Anyway, that’s behind us. Let’s dive in.
Kelle: Picture this, it’s mid-morning on a stunningly gorgeous blue bird Tuesday. A client we’ve been working with for just over a month had an extra 20 minutes in her day. She had a choice, she said, “I could go run an errand and then be three minutes late and rush to my lunch meeting with a colleague, or I can be early to my lunch meeting.”
Nina: If this was you, which would you choose? Before you even answer, consider this. What is the upside of rushing? We noodled on this a bit. Obviously there is efficiency. You get more done. You get to cross more off your expanding list, your ever expanding list.
Kelle: Yeah. Then there is an opportunity to reward yourself for all you’ve accomplished, but do we ever really even do that?
Nina: No. No.
Kelle: And if this resonates, if this sounds like you, there’s no shame. We used to do this too.
Nina: Yeah, I know for me, if I get to cross off an extra thing I need to do, there’s a few seconds of a rush of dopamine, a quick hit and then I’m onto the next thing. That’s about it.
Kelle: Yeah. Another possible upside is that you create momentum in your day. You get into the flow where you get into the zone, and it feels easier to focus on tasks and finish them.
Nina: Many of us are overwhelmed on a daily basis. You may feel like you’re sprinting through life. You go to bed thinking about what didn’t get done. You wake up thinking about everything you have to do and have no idea how it’s all going to happen.
Kelle: And it totally makes sense. As humans socialized as women, we’re rewarded by our productivity. We’re praised by how much we get done. Actually I take that back. We’re not even praised for how much we get done. It’s just expected of us that we get it all done. The system we live in, screws women, especially. What’s expected of us, how our culture teaches what it looks like to be successful, how we’ve been conditioned to measure our worth and our value by our accomplishments.
Nina: It’s complete BS. The world needs to change. And let’s be honest, the world isn’t going to change by itself. We have to make the change. You have to make the decision that you’re more important than what’s on your list. It starts with you. If you want to be more calm and more present in your life, more engaged and connected, running that extra errand isn’t going to get you there.
Kelle: Okay, let’s talk about what it costs you to run that extra errand that will then make you late. You get a mini rush of adrenaline and start driving away from your lunch and towards the errand. By understanding, you don’t quite have enough time to get it done and be on time, you’re opting into putting yourself into fight, flight or freeze, aka survival mode.
Nina: Survival mode, this is where our cortisol levels spike. Doing the extra task is an energy drain. It does not give you energy. That dopamine hit is short lived, and then it can actually take away from your energy. It’s taking away from your ability to be present in your life. It’s not life giving, it’s life draining. So another cost, by choosing to push yourself and run late, you’ve eliminated the space for actually being creative. When you’re in survival mode, you’re not creative because your brain has shut that part down. It’s just trying to cope with what’s happening at the moment.
Kelle: And you’re likely going to feel impatient. There are other drivers on the road, some are rushing, and some are not. So then you get to this lunch meeting, and you show up frazzled and sweaty, we love that, unorganized, maybe even apologetic. You have less capacity to problem solve, to think creatively and clearly.
Nina: We make ourselves rush by overscheduling. We try to jam too many things into too little time, and we make ourselves late almost on purpose. We no longer only rush when we’re late. It’s the habit of busy that we create, this belief that we source our value from what we accomplish, GSD all day long.
Kelle: And we get it. We love getting shit done. That hit we get from crossing one more thing off the list feels incredible, so good in the moment. But doing it on repeat day after day after day, it’s exhausting. It doesn’t make us better. It actually keeps us the same, overdoing, and overwhelmed.
Nina: Yeah. So back to that client. She had a choice to get to her lunch meeting 20 minutes early or run that errand that would make her three minutes late. She chose to be 20 minutes early. In her words, she was able to show up at her lunch meeting, calm and organized, prepared and ready. She created space for herself to breathe, to feel confident and at ease. It almost felt, well, luxurious.
Kelle: Yes. And she was able to be more present for herself and her colleague while she was at the meeting. She showed herself that she could trust herself to make decisions that were for her, that added to her health and happiness. She had the capacity to notice little things like the birds chirping. She had time to preview the menu, take in the lovely sounds and delicious smells. She ran into a friend she hadn’t seen in a while and had a moment to catch up.
Nina: She had plenty of time. I mean, sure, we can run all day long, we did it for years and we’re not perfect, we still do when we add too much to our plate, pushing ourselves, but for what and for who?
Kelle: When you’re feeling the need to push yourself, what are you telling yourself? Can you notice the sentences running through your mind? Just take a moment and check-in.
Nina: When you’re telling yourself you need to get one more thing done, why? And how does that make you feel? When you tell yourself you don’t have enough time, you end up not having enough time. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy and we’re sort of perpetuating the problem. How does that make you feel? Anxious? Overwhelmed?
Kelle: The truth, when you’re rushing, life’s a blur, you’re moving so fast there’s no room to notice the small moments in life. And really, the small moments they add up to more presence, more connection, and more energy for what matters most.
Nina: It’s a really big part of actually enjoying the life you work so hard to create. That’s why we believe the new idea of luxury is an unrushed life. When you live an unrushed life, you have enough of the one resource you can’t get more of. Time is the luxury item.
Kelle: So we want to offer that you swap that time scarcity story. What if instead of telling yourself you don’t have enough time, you told yourself, I’m learning that I have enough time. I’m becoming a person who has enough time. I have enough time. I have plenty of time.
Nina: Write these four phrases down, put them on sticky notes on your bathroom mirror and in your notes on the phone, your notes app. Set an alarm to remind yourself over and over, you have enough time, rock star. Stay tuned in. We’re going to be talking a lot more about this because time impacts everything we do.
Kelle: Remember, your worth has nothing to do with how much you get done each day. You’re amazing and you’re worthy no matter what your desk, your email box or your life looks like.
Nina: Yeah, rewriting your time story is a huge part of actually enjoying the life you work so hard to create.
Kelle: If you like what you’re hearing here and you know people that would love this, please share it with them.
Nina: Yeah, thanks for being here. See you next time.
Kelle: Yeah, see you next time.
Nina: Hey everyone, if you want more live access to me and Kelle, you have to join our email list.
Kelle: Yes, we’ll come to your email box every Tuesday and Thursday.
Nina: You can ask us questions, get clarity and get coached.
Kelle: We offer monthly free email coaching when you’re on our list and you’re the first to know about trainings, events and other free coaching opportunities.
Nina: Just go to kelleandnina.com. That’s K E L L E and nina.com to sign up.
Kelle: Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Ambitious-Ish.
Nina: If you’re ready to align your ambitions with your heart and feel more calm, balanced, and connected, visit https://www.kelleandnina.com/ for more information about how to work with us and make sure you get on our list.
Kelle: See you in the next episode!
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