You can’t make good decisions when you’re permanently rushed
By Leyya Sattar
When your days are packed hour to hour with no space to pause, your nervous system doesn't get time to settle. Everything feels urgent. Everything feels high stakes. Everything demands your attention right now.
A dysregulated system will always push you toward urgency, not clarity. And rushed decisions are rarely wise ones. Rushing makes everything feel bigger and more dramatic than it actually is. It shrinks your perspective, collapses your options, and makes you react instead of respond. Slowing down supports self-regulation. Think: slow down to speed up. It's the moment you check in with yourself and ask, "What's really needed here?" It helps you be more discerning with your actions.
Give yourself breathing room to think, to feel, to sense what's going on. Most decisions become clearer when you're not forcing yourself to outrun your own nervous system.
Expanded post ⬇️
Why Slowing Down Makes You More Productive (And Better at Your Job)
Slowing down improves decision-making, emotional regulation, and workplace performance. When you're constantly rushing, your nervous system stays in survival mode, prioritising speed over clarity, and reaction over thoughtful responses. Research shows that chronic stress impairs your brain’s ability to organise and problem-solve, making it harder to think strategically, communicate effectively, or make inclusive decisions. The solution is to build intentional pauses into your day to help your nervous system settle and your brain access higher-level thinking.
The Neuroscience: Why Everything Feels Harder When You're Moving Too Fast
There's a reason everything feels harder when you're moving too fast. A rushed mind is a stressed mind, and a stressed mind struggles to access nuance, long-term thinking, and emotional balance.
When your nervous system is in a constant state of alert, your brain prioritises survival. Even though that last email isn't a life-or-death situation, your brain reacts as if it is. A dysregulated nervous system can't tell the difference between a genuine threat and everyday pressure. It only knows that you're overwhelmed, so it prepares you to defend, avoid, or react quickly.
What Happens in Your Brain Under Stress
When stress becomes chronic:
The amygdala (your threat-detection system) becomes hyperactive, scanning for problems constantly
The prefrontal cortex (responsible for reasoning, planning, and empathy) goes offline, limiting your ability to think clearly
Cortisol floods your system, keeping you in a state of high alert that makes everything feel urgent
The result is you're more reactive, less patient, and more likely to make decisions you'll later question.
The Workplace Cost of Constant Rushing
In our DEI consultancy and training work with global organisations at Other Box, we see this play out constantly. People are expected to make complex decisions under relentless deadlines, back-to-back meetings, and the pressure to "keep up" when companies focus on growth at all costs. Then those same organisations wonder why clarity, empathy, inclusion, and good judgment are missing.
Rushed people can't contribute to building a healthy, inclusive workplace culture.
When your nervous system is dysregulated:
You miss social cues and emotional nuance, critical for inclusive communication
You default to familiar patterns rather than considering diverse perspectives
You make snap judgments instead of creating space for different voices
You struggle with the patience required for meaningful collaboration
Why Slowing Down Is Not a Luxury
We need to stop treating the idea of slowing down as if it’s a luxury, and not a basic requirement for good decision-making.
When you create pauses in your day, even small ones, your nervous system can settle. From that place, you can:
Think more clearly and strategically
Communicate more honestly and empathetically
Choose more intentionally rather than reactively
Access the executive function needed for complex problem-solving
The "Slow Down to Speed Up" Principle
This isn't about working less or lowering standards. It's about working smarter. When you give yourself breathing room:
Decisions become clearer and more confident
You catch mistakes before they multiply
You communicate more effectively the first time (reducing back-and-forth)
You preserve energy for what actually matters
How to Slow Down: Practical Nervous System Regulation Strategies
If something feels overwhelming, confusing, or high-stakes, it's usually not a sign to work harder. It's a sign to breathe and step back.
Here Are Simple Pauses You Can Build Into Your Day →
Micro-breaks between meetings (even 2-3 minutes):
Stand up and stretch
Look out a window
Take five deep breaths
Step outside briefly
Decision-making pauses:
Before responding to a challenging email, wait 10 minutes
When feeling pressured to decide, say "Let me think about this and get back to you"
Check in with yourself: "What's really needed here?"
Boundary-setting practices:
Block 15-minute buffer zones in your calendar
Turn off notifications for focused work periods
Practice saying "I need time to consider this properly"
End-of-day transitions:
Create a shutdown ritual that signals your nervous system the workday is over
Avoid checking emails in the hour before bed
Journal or brain-dump to clear mental clutter
Make Space for Difference
Our mantra at Other Box is Make Space For Difference. That includes:
Making space in your own nervous system to process, feel, and think so you're not operating from survival mode
Making space in conversations to truly listen rather than waiting to react
Making space in decision-making to consider perspectives different from your default thinking
Making space in your schedule so you're not always operating at capacity with no room for the unexpected
Making space for different working styles that don't equate busyness with productivity
When you're constantly rushed, you can only see through the narrow lens of urgency. Slowing down expands your perspective, helping you notice what and who you might otherwise miss.
Rushed Decisions Are Rarely Wise Ones
Your best thinking doesn't happen when you're running on empty, responding from stress, or trying to outrun your own nervous system. It happens when you give yourself the space to settle, sense what's actually happening, and respond from a place of clarity rather than chaos.
The most productive thing you can do is give yourself permission to slow down.
Need support building a less rushed, more inclusive workplace culture? Learn more about our DEI consultancy and training services at Other Box. Contact us here.
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We're doing December differently at OTHER BOX. Our anti-productivity advent calendar is our stand against productivity pressure, unwanted resolutions, and the relentless grind that drains your energy every winter. Over 7 days, we're sharing reminders grounded in emotional intelligence, discernment, self-regulation, and self-care to help you move through the festive season with clarity and ease and step into January without pressure or performance.
