How to Slow Down When You Have 1 Million Things to Do
Keep reading this post to learn:
What hustle culture is and why it’s keeping you stuck
Practical ways to shift your mindset around time and productivity
4 steps to simplify your life: prioritize, build margin, and delegate
Raise your hand if you were vigorously nodding your head at this title and you clicked on the blog post SO FAST because you for sure can relate to having 1 million things to do at any given time?
Well, I’m not gonna say that the title was clickbait because it’s not. We are gonna address you having 1 million things to do…but the conversation might not sound how you think it will.
Let’s just say to prepare yourself for Sassy Jess, mmmk?
We’re going to be talking a lot about healing from hustle culture.
What Is Hustle Culture?
You’ve probably heard the term a lot online, and I know I use it a good amount! So, let’s all get on the same page. What exactly is hustle culture?
Hustle culture is a mindset and lifestyle that prioritizes work and/or productivity over everything else, often at the expense of your mental and physical health. It’s characterized by unrealistic expectations, overworking (aka “grinding”), and focusing on getting ahead by any means necessary. In hustle culture, overworking and even feeling burned out are glamorized and seen as badges of honor.
I’m going to say something—and if it makes you kind of internally recoil a little bit, that might mean this is for you:
You are addicted to being busy.
You are unhealthily obsessed with being productive.
You find much of your worth in what you have (or haven’t) accomplished.
You’ve normalized feeling stressed, chaotic, and stretched too thin.
This is me lovingly calling you out AND calling you up. Believe me, 4–5 years ago, I was saying yes to every single one of those statements because I was neck-deep in hustle culture.
I spent all of my 20s (and even some of my teen years) grinding. I chased goal after goal. Nothing was enough. I had insanely long to-do lists every day. I barely slept because I had “so much to do.” I was a tightly wound ball of pent-up stress, to be honest.
Why Do We Stay Stuck?
The truth is, your nervous system will choose familiar stress over unfamiliar peace until you heal and learn how to choose differently.
When you spend day after day, week after week, year after year living in a state of stress, hurry, and chaos, that becomes your norm—even if it’s unhealthy and not supporting you well.
We, as a society, are addicted to doing.
Our time and energy are constantly pulled in 50 different directions at any given time. Our brains are constantly firing on all cylinders with at least 29 tabs open at once. And let’s not even talk about the caffeine it takes to operate at a baseline level because of how much we have going on. Our mental and physical loads are heavy…and they’re just getting heavier.
We have to disrupt the habits rooted in hustle culture and learn habits of peace if we want our lives to look and feel different.
The Good News
Here’s the truth—we make our lives and our to-do lists a lot more complicated than they’re meant to be. We overextend ourselves because it’s what we saw our moms, aunts, neighbors, grandmas, etc., do growing up.
I have some good news for you—you are capable of breaking that cycle.
You are capable of living differently. Of trading hurry for peace.
Before I dig in and give you some action steps to help you slow down when you feel like you have 1 million things to do, let me encourage you:
One of the best gifts you can give to yourself and your family is figuring out your values and what actually matters to you, as well as aligning your life with them.
Doing that is going to mean:
Cutting the fluff from your to-do list.
Setting boundaries with yourself and others.
Doing the inner work you’ve been putting off.
4 Steps to Slow Down
When you start your Hustle Sanely journey and take the steps necessary to heal from hustle culture, you’re going to feel guilty. You’re going to feel restless. You’re going to feel uncomfortable. But rest assured, that just means you’re on the right track.
Think about it: you’re working to undo years of hustle, hurry, and hecticness.
It only makes sense that it’s going to take time to make peace your norm.
Healing from hustle culture took time for me—I’m talking 2–3 years of learning and growing. It’s a long game.
The truth is, my to-do list didn’t get smaller. If anything, it grew because I’ve since become a mom. But I’ve done a few things that have helped me slow down despite my never-ending to-do list, and we’re gonna talk about them:
01: Change your relationship with time
You’ve probably been repeating phrases like:
“I’m so busy I just don’t have time to do everything.”
“My life is chaotic, and that’s just how it is.”
“Next week, when life slows down, THEN I’ll prioritize my well-being.”
Here’s the thing: whatever you continuously expose your brain to is what it perceives as your reality.
Shift those thoughts to affirmations like:
“I manage my responsibilities with ease.”
“I am the architect of my life.”
“I nurture myself now, not someday.”
Instead of approaching time with a scarcity mindset, challenge yourself to approach it with an abundance mindset. Stop viewing time as something you’re constantly running out of and instead see each new 24 hours as a gift to steward well.
Acknowledge that you’re doing your best, and remember: you’re human, not a robot. We’re not here solely to output all the time! Imagine yourself at 80 years old—you’re not going to look back and say, “Wow, I’m so glad I drove myself into the ground every day to make sure my to-do list was always done.”
NO WAY. You’ll be thinking about how glad you are that you prioritized taking care of yourself, laughing with loved ones, and living a slower, more intentional life.
Slowing down is not about avoiding work but about being more intentional with your energy.
02: Master the art of prioritization
Prioritization is such an invaluable skill! Learning to look at your tasks and identify which ones are the most important is essential for slowing down.
Part of The Hustle Sanely Planning System includes having a monthly Focus Goal, weekly Top 3 Tasks, and daily Focus 3 Tasks. This framework helps you know which tasks deserve your best time and energy.
Instead of having a mile-long daily to-do list that you end up rewriting for the next day anyway, shift your focus from quantity to quality. Be aware of which tasks matter most and focus on those. The truth is, none of us will ever fully complete our to-do lists—we’ll all go to the grave with unchecked tasks.
Let that reality sink in and free you from chasing something impossible. Focus on what will get you closer to your goals and let the rest fall into place.
03: Build margin into your life
Consider margin as intentional white space in your schedule—time for rest, flexibility, and unexpected events.
Having margin in your schedule allows for:
Flexibility to handle projects and ideas.
Increased productivity as you avoid burnout.
Downtime to rest and recharge.
Space to respond to changing priorities.
Margin might feel weird at first, especially if you’re used to a jam-packed schedule. But learning to create breathing room is life-changing.
04: Embrace Delegation and Boundaries
You don’t have to do it all. Delegating and saying no are key to slowing down and reclaiming your time.
To delegate effectively:
Communicate clearly what “done” looks like to avoid confusion.
Trust others to handle tasks, even if they do them differently than you would.
And when it comes to boundaries, remind yourself that saying no doesn’t make you unreliable. It creates space for what truly matters and allows others to step up when needed.
To summarize, hustle culture isn’t serving you, you don’t have to stay stuck, and the four steps you can take right now to slow down are: change your relationship with time, master the art of prioritization, build margin into your life, and embrace delegation and boundaries! If this post helped you in any way, I’d be so grateful if you shared it on your Instagram story and tagged me @jessmassey and @hustlesanely so we can spread the message of Hustle Sanely together!
READY TO DITCH OVERWHELM FOR GOOD & START LIVING A PEACEFULLY PRODUCTIVE LIFE?
Loved this blog post? Tune into the full podcast episode below!
