crazy busy is commonplace. You can even take a class in speed yoga. Or go to a drive-thru funeral.

Award-winning journalist and author Carl Honor has taken to exploring our societys compulsion to rush, and suggests we put on the brakes. His bestselling book, In Praise of Slowness, made him the godfather of the slow movement. Yet it is not about doing things at a snails pace. At work there are deadlines to meet. But doing everything fast is counterproductive; it will burn you out and cause you to make mistakes. Pacing yourself will make you more efficient and produce higher quality results. Honor has simple starting points for those who hurry but wish to slow down: Do less. Streamline your diary by listing things in order of importance and cut from the bottom. Doing it all is just a recipe for hurrying it all. Unplug. Ring-fence moments in the week when you unplug your phone, internet, laptop. Build a slow ritual into your day. Reading, knitting, gardening whatever makes you switch to a lower gear. Its all about the art of changing gears. You are here. And about being disciplined.

we are Marinated in the culture of speed. Being

Most of us cannot wait for the weekend. It is when you feel most stress-free and your body and mind relax. Or so you would think. Finnish research company Firstbeat Technologies conducted a well-being analysis of almost 10,000 Finnish workers. The study revealed that Saturday is the most stressful day of the week. Optimum balance between stress and recovery is reached between Monday and Wednesday. It is crucial to let loose over the weekend; however, in some cases this may eat away at the workers resources rather than increase them, says Joni Kettunen, the CEO of Firstbeat. It is alarming if there is no room for recovery in the week. To avoid stress building up for Saturday, remember to take breaks also during your work week and have regular meal times. It is all about balance.

WhaT is The speed you need?

TexT: saTu rm

pace yourself Balance your recovery time

Time is money, sometimes literally. We all try to make the most of our time and keep up the speed. Can we go any faster, or should we slow down? Read our tips for the speed you need for ultimate productivity.

a Typical office woRkeR is interrupted by a distraction such as email, IM or a phone call every three minutes. We live in an age of technology and information overload. Media multitasking is an increasingly ubiquitous phenomenon and a commonplace requirement in the workplace. A recent Stanford University study Cognitive control in media multitaskers shows that multitaskers are, in fact, paying a high mental price. Heavy media multitaskers perform worse on a test of task-switching ability, likely due to a reduced ability to lter out interference from the irrelevant task set, the study shows. Trying to media multitask might impair your cognitive control. If you are in a situation where you are bombarded with myriad sources of information, you may not be able to lter out the things that are irrelevant to your goal. Multitasking may keep you busy, but not always productively so.

How to avoid the Saturday stress?

The so-called Saturday stress is a sum of many things, says well-being expert satu Tuominen from Firstbeat Technologies. As weeks are paced by work, it leaves hobbies, household chores and parties for the weekend. Stress increases the need for sleep. Sleep well also during the week. Spend your spare time engaging in personally enjoyable activities rather than obligations. There is a difference between negative and positive stress. Remember that alcohol is also a physically contributing factor to Saturday stress.

Do less, accomplish more

Reduce your Saturday stress

Exercise is obviously good for you. But combining intensive exercise with an already hectic weekend may increase your stress levels. RemembeR that learning new things uses more resources than routine work. Stress levels vary depending on the content of your work. If you feel you cannot get anything done, it is worth looking at the types of issues you have been dealing with in the past weeks; familiarizing yourself with a new idea demands more input.

You can use Toolbox materials at work or when giving a presentation, link them to your blog or forward the entire Toolbox to your colleagues. The background ideas are available in a variety of web sources.

As slides: www.slideshare.net In pdf format: www.scribd.com

The whole magazine: www.issuu.com

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You are here.

check out

IncreasIng enjoyment, creativity and efficacy at work is the goal of Redesigning 925, a design project embedded in the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. This year-long project aims to discover many small ways to redesign and manage our usual nine-to-five work weeks, developing solutions together with companies such as Fortum and UPM. In February this year, Redesigning 925 arranged The National Inbox Day in Finland. People were invited to clean their inboxes with easy steps and report the number of deleted emails. Once email is under control you know how much work you have and you are back on track.

According to one study, 62% of adults are addicted to checking messages during meetings, after office hours and while on holiday. 50% of us will respond to an email immediately or within 60 minutes. A few years ago Hewlett Packard created a guide to avoid info-mania and enhance your productivity. Set dedicated daily email time. When writing emails use subject headers that will help your audience prioritize responses by indicating actions. Invite only the relevant people to a meeting. Take yourself offline if necessary. This does not have to be for a lengthy time, but it can provide an opportunity to deal with a vital task.

http://bit.ly/ avoidinfomania

crazy Busy app. Psychiatrist Dr Hallowell has launched a Crazy Busy App for the iPhone. It helps you find your rhythm, reduce wasted time and find solutions that work for you. www.drhallowellapps. com/crazybusy.htm Freedom app. Productivity application Freedom will help you fight evil distractions so you can get your work done. It will disable your Internet connection for up to eight hours at a time. For Mac and PC. macfreedom.com

check out More ideas to redesign your work week: 925Project.com

The guide to Info-Mania has been published by Hewlett-Packard in association with Dr Glenn Wilson, Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London.

Switch off!

It is important that you learn how to switch off from time to time...

Achieve more without a burn-out Avoid info-mania

them more automatic so they require less energy. There is power in the routine. Dr Roy Baumeister and his colleagues at Florida State University have concluded that we each have one reservoir of discipline and will, which is gradually exhausted throughout the day by any act of conscious self-regulation. We do things daily that require no self-discipline. Making coffee, driving to work; complex routines, yet performed as if on autopilot. These routines are the secret to enhanced work CheCk ouT productivity. The more things you do by theenergyproject. routine, the more there is in your reservoir com/tips for demanding projects. Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them, says Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, a company that aims to energize people and transform companies.

The seCreT To geTTing Things done is to make

Thinking, FasT and slow by Daniel Kahneman, 2011. This seminal book deals with human rationality and irrationality. It explores the capabilities, faults and biases of fast thinking and uncovers the influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behaviour. The shallows: whaT The inTerneT is doing To our Brains by Nicholas Carr, 2010. The book argues that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic. Carr offers insights that may change the way we think about media and our minds. CrazyBusy: oversTreTChed, overBooked, and aBouT To snap! sTraTegies For handling your FasT-paCed liFe by Edward Hallowell, 2007. Do you often feel crazy busy? Through quick exercises and focused advice on issues from lifestyle to time management, Dr Hallowell offers a step-by-step guide through the process of unsnarling our frantic lives.

Reduce wasted time Get swept away by routines Recharge with a useful book

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