Nico Rosberg: The art of slowing down to speed up

Isn’t it sweet when something you know in your bones just keeps being reconfirmed by others. The recent BBC Sports article that revealed that this season F1 driver Nico Rosberg has ‘looked into meditation – mindfulness training… awareness’ is no surprise to me. It’s an odd paradox; that by slowing down to take time to observe what’s going on for ourselves we can actually deal with what’s coming up with more poise and presence.

For Nico this might be the next corner in the track, the next news conference alongside Lewis Hamilton or the next sleepless night on the eve of a big race. For me I made this discovery twelve years ago; not on the high octane of a F1 track but in a busy busy life where I somehow expected to be able to fit in a job, a masters degree, house renovation and triathalon training. What I discovered was amoungst the busyness the key to keeping it all in perspective and to make good decisions was to take some time out to observe my breath and mind; to sit and meditate. I was my own laboratory. A busy DIY home improvement day would just go better on the days I meditated. I was less likely to drop the paint tray, quite literally.

As a recent Huffington Post article pointed out; there is a large body of research (beyond me doing my DIY and a German F1 driver) that is beginning to show links between productivity and mindfulness. For example that mindfulness training improves our ability to orient attention and be less distracted. The word paradox comes to mind again. By intentionally slowing we can end up being more sure-footed, more fleet-footed, and move through our busy lives with greater ease.