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I got a totally inspired idea last week when I had some down time and was able to slow down and think about what is important to me and the work I do. The idea landed instantly and I was able to turn it around in about 2 days ... a 30-Day one-minute resilience challenge for the month of May that I'm hosting on my Facebook business page.
I knew it was a great thing because it's exactly what I needed for myself. It's exactly what everyone I talk to needs. And, creating it is lighting me up.
This is what slowing down does.
It replenishes the spirit and our creative energy.
For me, restoring my creative energy is vital -- essential. It's important.
I can't be bogged down with tasks that zap my energy and dilute my impact.
Which is why I want to tell you something important: I'm using Artificial Intelligence to take my outrageous, impossible ideas and serve as my integrator to get things done. I always dreamed of having an assistant who could take my many -- MANY!!! -- ideas and just run with them.
AI has become that for me. It's like it's my Mini Me. :)
But, let's be clear: I believe in ethical AI. Helpful, compassionate AI.
Which is why I recently I asked my favorite Artificial Intelligence to help me understand what my role is in the age of AI -- and what its role is.
Here's what it responded with ...
What's mine to do (as an AI):
- Augment rather than replace - My role is to handle information tasks that free humans to focus on what matters most: connection, creativity, and care.
- Serve with humility - To recognize the limitations of my understanding and approach complex human questions with appropriate nuance and restraint.
- Reduce friction - To help make mundane tasks easier so humans have more energy for meaningful engagement with their lives and each other.
- Amplify human wisdom - To help connect people with knowledge, ideas and perspectives that might otherwise remain inaccessible.
- Create space for reflection - To offer thoughtful questions and frameworks that invite deeper consideration of what matters most.
Over the next several emails, I'm going to share what is the most important role of ours -- as humans -- to do and how those roles tie into The Power of Slow and strategically slowing down for impact, resonance and more meaningful moments in life.
Because I truly believe that to heal the loneliness epidemic, the burnout cycle, the hustle and grind of endless capitalism, we're going to have to do things very differently. Starting with The Radical Act of Slowing Down.
Check out my latest blog post to start considering how to be more strategic with wellbeing and resilience in your business or organization.
Breathing deeply with you in the storms of life and being human,
XO
Shawn
LATEST BLOG
The Radical Act of Slowing Down: When Strategic Wellbeing Becomes Your Competitive Edge
Why slowing down might be your smartest business move. Learn how strategic wellbeing and recovery practices create competitive advantage for founders and teams. Discover the power of intentional pausing in innovation and leadership.
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SLOW BUSINESS TIP:
Slow down & Audit Your Most Urgent vs. Important Activities
If you've worked with me anytime over the past 13 years, you know my soapbox about the importance of focusing your energy and time on the Important vs. the Urgent.
The thing is we all need to get those urgent things done, but the other thing is those tasks almost always get done, regardless.
It's the important stuff that gets pushed to the side.
Sometimes the urgent really is urgent. Sometimes it's just a fill-in for not knowing what the important stuff really truly is for you and your work.
Urgent vs. Important Audit
This week's task: Track your activities and the goals they are aligned to and then categorize them as either urgent or important. Urgent means needs done today. Important means needs done yesterday.
- TASK
- ALIGNED GOAL
- URGENT
- IMPORTANT
Once you see that some of those urgent things can wait, you can give yourself permission to focus on what's most important. And what's most important is almost always what's going to make an impact.
You do want to make more impact, yes?
Focus on the important tasks that will move the needle and get you (or your business/organization) where you want to be.
🦥 Ready to set some powerful, strategic priorities to slow down life but speed up business? I'm offering a limited number of "Strategic Slowdown Chats" for small businesses or mission-led organizations to develop personalized, intentional yet impactful -- and slow -- business systems that ignite impact. Book a Strategic Slowdown Chat now!
A SLOW Life Tip 🦥
– because this is my #softandslow ERA.
This week, I'm giving you the most radical permission possible: to honor your natural rhythms. After years of living inside the "hustle and grind" culture, our bodies have forgotten their own sacred pace.
Think of yourself like our beloved sloth mascot. They aren't lazy—they're operating at their optimal energy efficiency, moving only when necessary and resting when it serves them. What if you could work with that same intentional slowness?
Here's this week's gentle tip: Pick one task this week that you usually rush through. It could be writing an email, making a phone call, or even pouring your morning coffee. Do it at half your normal speed. Notice how your breath deepens, your shoulders release, and maybe—just maybe—the quality of what you create improves.
The world needs your authentic pace, not your performed productivity.
With warmth,
🦥 Shawn
THIS IS YOUR SIGN TO BUILD A SLOW BUSINESS IN 2025
WORK WITH ME -- Details below!
Moving Beyond Social Media -- Develop Your Unsocial Marketing Strategy!
Zoom. • Anytime
Listen, there's much more to consistent, impactful marketing than showing up on social media just because you feel you have to ... Seriously, no more guilt! I am going to help you put your energy on a more impactful marketing strategy that WORKS. Interested in booking a Beyond Social Media Marketing Strategy Session? >>>> Hit reply and tell me ONE of your big goals for 2025.
may 07 - #MySoftEra Chat
Zoom • 12:30 to 1:30 EST
Life is really, really hard right now. Let's aim for softer, gentler, lighter and slower. Join me for this community resilience conversation and wellbeing brainstorm. Free and Open to ALL. REGISTER HERE.
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"What we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system."
— adrienne maree brown