You good? Not sure about the rest of the world but Mercury Retrograde totally kicked my ass. 

As someone whose entire job revolves around technology and communication, I'm planning to whip out my kiddie pool and a homemade piña colada this weekend—because I seemingly survived weeks of glitches and crossed wires and now it's time to celebrate.

Mercury Retrograde gets a really bad rep (sometimes rightfully so) but ultimately it's a time to slow down and reflect, which reminds me of the time I lived in Switzerland.

I worked for a Swiss company for 2.5 years before I started my business. After working in our North America headquarters for over a year, I was offered an opportunity to work in Switzerland for three months.

That job was stressful, my therapist at the time could probably tell you in full detail even to this day. Everything felt so chaotic and urgent and it activated my nervous system in a way that was less than fun. 

Before my short stint in the EU, I had already noticed one major difference between working with my American colleagues and then the team in Switzerland: the amount of time expected to finish a project. 

In the U.S., things needed to get done, like, yesterday. They wanted good work and they wanted it fast. There were a lot more hoops to jump through when working with the Swiss office, though. Which drove a lot of my U.S. coworkers bonkers. What they saw as “taking too long,” to me, seemed more like thoughtfulness. Maybe I was just a corporate suck up but if I had to sum up their approach to work it would have been: great work takes time.

While I was there in person, I noticed some other differences: People rarely stayed late, they never ate lunch at their desks, and there was always time for an afternoon walk.  

My stress levels were reduced significantly while working in the Swiss office. It probably helped that I was um literally living in Switzerland lol but I also found that slowing down didn't only positively affect my mood, it increased the quality of my work. None of us were any less busy than the others across the pond, but there was a more intentional approach to classifying what was urgent and what wasn't.

One of the reasons I choose to put the word intuitive in front of all that I do is because I was taught to do things the way they've always been done: now and perfectly.

Every time I try to do things now and perfectly, chaos ensues. Something breaks. I mess up and then cry about it. I push through the chaos long enough to ultimately find success, but the road to get there effing sucks.

While I've found I can rise to the (horrible) occasion, I would prefer not to. I just try to remind myself that great work takes time.

RECENTLY IN PRODUCTIVITY (& BEYOND)

• ADVICE THAT DOESN'T SUCK: A Digital Decluttering Guide for Creating a Productive Workspace. Read it

• TECH SPOTLIGHT: Don't let your own cringy email behavior get you down, read “How to undo sent email on different platforms” so you know how to take one last look-see. Typo regrets, be gone!

• FIND YOUR GROOVE: The perfect playlist to slow down to: cbd for ur ears

Peace, love and workflows,

Andrea