Most of us have a tendency to live life at a million miles an hour – we’re just so busy, we’ve got so much going on, we don’t even have one minute to ourselves – and that’s all ok if everything in life is just the way we want it and nothing is going to throw it off track.

And when is life like that?…..NEVER (thank goodness, cos that would be dull).

So, yes, many of us would do better to slow down a bit, find some balance, align ourselves with our priorities….but how can that possible when we’re SO BUSY?

My advice is to find a way to CTRL+ALT+DEL yourself every so often. In my world this is known as a ‘reset day’ and I get around to having one (or sometimes even half a one does the trick) every few months.

What is a ‘reset’:

• Time out – firstly to let your brain slow down/tune out and then to work on the things which otherwise get neglected/avoided
• Those things might be tasks which never make it to the top of the to-do list – quite functional, a bit of a personal clear out but really important nonetheless
• Or the work might be on ‘big picture stuff’: an evaluation of where things are at; time to get present and reflect on what’s good; checking back in with your priorities; space to make trickier decisions or important plans
• If you’re wanting to get creative in your reset time then in the lead up jot down some questions you’d like to work through and then, on the day, give yourself at least 30 mins of free thinking time for each question and see where it takes you

What could it look like:

• Half a day can work if things aren’t too out of kilter but, when I’ve needed to work through bigger stuff or been in need of a more reflection, I’ve also really benefited from taking a week where I do something with a bit of structure but also with lots of free time (like a yoga holiday)
• Blocking the time out in your diary and treating it like an important meeting (with yourself)
• Choosing a good space – somewhere that will help your head open and allow you to forget about the day-to-day, where you can be still (although walking can be good for this too), quiet and undisturbed
• As long as you’re committed to staying on topic, you could do it with a friend
• Have a notebook to hand – the thoughts you have when in this space are usually gems that you’ll want to remember (on a yoga holiday earlier this year I think I sent myself about 50 emails of thoughts – weird, yes, invaluable, yes)
• If you’re someone who finds it tricky to switch off from the day to day then perhaps start your reset practice with 30 minutes of some kind of mindful meditation, whatever works for you but Headspace is great

A ‘reset day’ is just a concept which works really well for me, there’s no right or wrong way of doing it. I find the only key thing is to not be doing the things or be surrounded by the things which would be there on any normal day.

Play with it, see what works for you but don’t just keep running at a million miles an hour on that treadmill in the hope that one day it slows down of it’s own accord.