The Wisdom of Slowing Down ~ with Srini Pillay

If you’ve become at all familiar by now with the Brilliance Cycle, you’ll know that true originality and contribution requires the coexistence of four very different phases of activity.

12 to 3 is the spontaneous arising of fresh creative energy out of stillness.
3 to 6 is the realization of intentions into measurable results.
6 to 9 is where we fully integrate and learn from our mistakes to develop humility.
9 to 12 is where we recognize the limitations of our humanity, and turn to something beyond ourselves.

Today’s podcast is useful in the 6 to 9 quadrant. In order to shift from fight or flight, sympathetic nervous system activity, into the parasympathetic activity where learning can happen, we need to be able to slow down. Sometimes pausing, going slower, produces greater results. Dr. Srini Pillay, an associate professor at Harvard University, will share with us the importance of taking frequent pauses between phases of focused activity in order to create more brilliant results.

3:11 — Early experiments in focus and productivity

12:50 — 5 disadvantages of focusing

22:22 — Benefits of unfocused time

27:35 — Strategies for balancing focused and unfocused time

48:30 — A role-playing game