If I have a niche practice, it’s slowductivity.

I mentioned my slowductivity process in September’s newsletter (if you’re not subscribed yet, you can do that here!), and I promised you a longer post about the theory and practice behind it. Here’s a blurb from that newsletter:

When I tell people that I’m a slowductivity coach, I explain that my approach combines slow living with productivity. On the surface, these two might seem like polar opposites, but magic happens when they commingle. I know this, because my practices over the last two years have radically shifted my own life from a tornado of workaholism and overwhelm to a life rooted in intention, abundance, and feeling genuinely happy and calm most of the time. 

Maybe it’s my Gemini moon or that my favorite word is “alchemy,” but this method of layering two different things over one another and seeing the new blended result has always thrilled me. In fact, the origin story for The Tending Year is my commitment to practicing the dual definitions of “tend”: to tend to something, to tend to do something. The care, the attention, the action, the awareness—I’m enchanted with it all.

I want to break down my slowductivity process so you can borrow the exercise of combining two of your most meaningful practices. 

There’s something magical about the spot in the middle of a Venn diagram. To get there, though, you first have to identify each of your key subjects. Here’s just some of what I put in my Slow Living and Productivity circles. These are the things I’ve learned and practiced over the last two years of my commitment to personal growth.

Productivity

• Tracking my progress
• Routine
• Timers
• Clear goals
• Actionable steps
• Focus and attention
• Breaks
• Planning/scheduling
• Must-do method

When I found that one of my key lessons fell in both circles, I put it in the middle overlapping Slowductivity section. Here are the things that landed there:

• Consciousness around work
• Giving myself permission
• Personal resources
• Spoon theory
• Awareness around technology use (particularly cell phone)

What do the Slowductivity items have in common?

They all deal in some ways with the following:

Self-knowing, healthy awareness of what is mine to do/worry about/be accountable for and what is outside of my realm of responsibility, self-advocating, kindness and care for myself, tending to my mind/body/emotions, nourishing myself, making it easier to make decisions.

What about you? Do you have two different motivators in your life? Perhaps a word or theme for your year? Use my free printable Overlapping Practices/Values Diagram (linked below) to consider two practices or values that mean a lot to you and make your life better somehow. As I said in my newsletter: 

Perhaps you’re an artist, so creativity is one of your circles. Or you’re a witch, so spirituality or magic is one of your circles. Or you’re a new parent, so family is one of your circles. 

What about those practices or values fascinates you, helps you thrive, challenges you, gives you agency? What are you doing when you practice them? How do they benefit you? Write it all down in the respective circles. Then, consider the overlap, if there’s magic happening there, and how you can nourish those experiences more each day. 

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