How to Slow Down and Be Present in a Fast-Paced Life
Have you ever finished a day and realized you weren’t really in any of it? Like you forgot how to slow down and be present?
That you were physically there—but mentally, emotionally, completely elsewhere?
You’re not alone. It’s time we stop accepting this as normal.
Being present isn’t just nice—it’s necessary. For joy, memory-making, and long-term success. If you’ve been moving too fast, this guide will show you how to slow down and be present—no meditation retreat required.
Warning Signs You’re Not Present (And Need to Slow Down)
Before we talk solutions, let’s talk signals.
Here are a few red flags that you’re disconnected:
- Rushing from one task to the next without absorbing any of it.
- Mentally spinning—thinking about everything but what’s in front of you.
- Feeling physically tired, emotionally drained, and deeply unmotivated.
When these signs start showing up, it’s not about working harder. It’s about pausing long enough to reconnect.
How to Slow Down and Be Present: 5 Simple Daily Shifts
These five shifts help me reset when I notice I’m no longer present:
1. Create Space in Your Calendar
Presence requires margin. If your day is back-to-back calls and deadlines, there’s no space to breathe. Try clearing an hour or two, even if it means rescheduling. This small shift can dramatically lower stress. I manage my own by auditing my appointments in my Google Calendar and asking my VA for assistance to create more space in my day.
2. Spend More Time Outdoors to be more present
Nature has a unique way of grounding us. Even a five-minute walk—with no earbuds, no distractions—can help reset your nervous system. Listen to the birds. Feel the sun. Let the moment meet you. This is one of the simplest ways to explore how to slow down and be present in everyday life.
3. Prioritize Movement to ground yourself
When I’m not moving, I lose my sense of presence. Try walking, yoga, or just stretching. I aim for three hours a week—minimum. It’s not about burning calories. What matters most is reconnecting with your body.
4. Meditate Daily (even just for three minutes)
Meditation isn’t woo-woo. It’s a practical tool to train your brain to come back to the moment. You don’t need an app or a fancy ritual. Just breathe. Even one minute makes a difference—three is even better. A small moment like this reminds you how to slow down and be present, even on busy days.
5. Make Time for Purposeful Solitude to reconnect
Solitude is where creativity, peace, and presence live. You don’t need a cabin in the woods—just carve out space to do something you love without distraction. For me? That’s thrifting.
Why Learning How to Slow Down and Be Present Matters
There’s no need to do more.
Instead, focus on removing what blocks you from being here—right now.
These five practices aren’t just wellness tips. They’re lifelines to help you remember how to slow down and be present, especially when the world feels like too much. And the more consistently you use them, the more connected, grounded, and joyful you’ll feel.
Ready to Take Action?
Of the five tools I shared, which one will you try first? Drop it in the comments—or share your own favorite way to ground yourself.
If this resonated, subscribe to The Next Step with Corrie Lo and share this post with a friend.
Let’s keep transforming overwhelm into confident action—one grounded breath at a time, and one choice at a time to remember how to slow down and be present.
CLICK FOR TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00]
Have you ever gone through an entire day and at the end of it realized that you weren’t really there for any of it?
So this happens to all of us. It’s taken me many years to learn how to manage it myself, and it’s important work. The reason I learned to do it is because when you think about it, being physically and mentally present isn’t just important for our careers.
It is just as important for enjoying day-to-day life as well. Today I’m gonna be sharing with you what are the top things that I do when I realize I am not feeling present Because when I don’t feel present, it’s usually because I’m overloaded and because I’m starting to neglect doing all the things that actually keep me grounded.
And today I’m sharing with you what those things are. So stick around.
[00:00:51] Corrie LoGiudice: You’re listening to the Next Step with Cory Low, where we transform overwhelm into Confident Action. I’m Cory Logis, keynote speaker, coach and working [00:01:00] mama of four here to help ambitious women just like you. Take the next step, whether that be leadership at work, at home, or in your community. Let’s get started.
I.
As I mentioned before. This happens to me on a regular basis. It happened as recently as a couple of days ago when my husband asked me how my day went and I completely spaced out. There were other times that I remember too, where I would be like so excited to get home from work and give my son a bath when he was a baby.
That it was all I could think about when I was at work. And then when I was finally there and actually. Giving him the bath and doing all the things that I was so excited to do all day. All I kept thinking about was my to-do list at work, right? So there’s multiple different ways that you can determine that you’re not feeling present.
Here are some of the things that I’ve noticed over the years that are really my warning signs, that it’s time to reign it in and get grounded again.
First is when you’re rushing from one thing to the [00:02:00] next like you’re not really taking note of what it is that’s going on right now.
You’re thinking about all the things that you need to do in the future. Next one is when your mind is running constantly and you’re not actually absorbing anything right? So like my day that I described, the other day I was on the run. I know I got a lot of stuff done, but then when called to task on what it was I got done, I couldn’t recall any of it.
And then lastly, there are times when I feel physically exhausted And as a result of feeling physically exhausted, it makes it that much more difficult for me to be emotionally connected, and as a result, I disconnect.
One concept I talk about all the time here is my framework called the Overwhelm Culprits and one of the top culprits, actually it’s the top one. Anytime I give a keynote or a workshop. And we poll the audience. I have a great free quiz that you can take on this too. We’ll make sure we drop it in the comments below, but every time we do it, lack of conditioning is always one of the top culprits.
[00:03:00] Lack of conditioning is how you take care of both your physical and your mental health and wellness. So it’s directly tied to that. Now, your presence, your ability to remain fully present in the moment. Disappears when we stop taking action on all the things that help keep us regulated. Which are all in this, self-care conditioning kind of bucket.
So it’s taken me several years at this point to figure this out. But if I’m starting to not feel present and I’m starting to feel disconnected, it’s because I’ve stopped doing. All the things that actually make me feel like myself that, I actually find helpful for it.
So here are five different things that I purposely do, and I’ve done them very recently. I’m gonna share some examples on, different things that I implement when I know I’m not feeling present. So number one is to create more space in my calendar. So presence requires having [00:04:00] margin.
So if every single moment of my day is booked, then my brain is never gonna get the chance to slow down that it needs. So one of the very, very first things that I did the other night after having the conversation with my husband on the couch, I went through and I looked at my calendar and it’s no wonder I was feeling so disconnected because every single space, I was so overbooked with phone calls that were pre-scheduled in all the different weeks leading up to today.
And that was before I had signed my book deal. And now I need time to write the book. So my calendar is literally maxed out with like phone calls and having barely any time to do the deep creative focus work that I need to be doing. So it’s no wonder that I’m starting to feel disconnected and stressed out.
And I’m carrying that subconsciously. So one of the very first things that I did was I went in and I started to clear out time. I asked my assistant to maybe move some of the appointments to later in the week to [00:05:00] help me have more capacity and more space.
Another thing I’ll do that I find really helpful, especially if you are super like self-aware that it’s becoming difficult to be like present in the current moment and that’s to spend some more time outdoors. So for me, I’m so grateful right now I’m from New York. It’s starting to get a little bit warmer out, which will make it easier to do this, but sometimes just a quick five minute walk around the block can be so helpful.
And when I do this too, I make it a point to leave my AirPods at home. I don’t wear any earbuds, I don’t listen to any podcasts. I don’t listen to any books. I don’t listen to any music. And the reason why is because I’m using that walk to reset myself. To really feel the, warmth of the sun on my face, to listen to the birds as they’re chirping, to see the car as it drives down the road.
Taking myself out of my space indoors and into the outdoors is very helpful that like shift in space [00:06:00] and helping me get more grounded in the current moment at that moment. Another thing that I’ll do is I’ll start to prioritize more movement. So one of the things that I’d actually noticed looking at my calendar, ’cause it’s been such a crazy speaking month for me, the month of March was nuts.
So I haven’t had as much time to exercise as I normally would. And when I say exercise, really it’s, I really focus on movement. So for me, the priority is getting three hours a week of some sort of movement. That could be walking on my walking pad at my desk. It could be riding my Peloton, it could be taking a yoga class, I just try to move my body for at least that amount of time each week. And a lot of times if I am not feeling fully present, it’s because I started slacking off on making sure that I was doing that movement. So that’s definitely one of the things I look to address. Another thing that I find really helpful if I’m feeling very disconnected, is to start meditating again.
So nine times outta 10. If I’m having a lot of difficulty and [00:07:00] I’m thinking about everything in the future, it’s because I haven’t taken the time to meditate. This for me is such a crucial practice. If you’re not familiar with meditation, it’s basically just. Exercise for your brain, and I’m happy to do, another episode on meditation specifically, if that’s something you’re interested in.
So feel free to drop that in the comments. But for today, I’m not gonna deep dive into it, but I’ll give you like a very high level overview. So as an example for me and my meditation practice, I will. At the beginning of each morning, set aside for me, it’s usually three or six minutes, but you could do as little as one minute.
You could do as long as an hour. There are people that meditate for, a full day if you’re a monk, but , for me, the three to six minutes works great. And in that timeframe, I close my eyes and I really just focus on my breath. You could focus on sensations within your body, how you feel.
Some days it just feels better and more grounding for me to be focused on my surroundings, listening to the bird, herping outside, or maybe I hear my cat, walking or [00:08:00] drinking, water out of her bowl. So that helps me become more present and grounded as well. So the meditation is definitely helpful for this.
And really, this was the primary tool that I used all those years ago when I was feeling so disconnected, given my son a bath and thinking about what I still had to do with the office. So I was really able to do a lot of work. On learning how to really check in and be present using just meditation alone, and that’s just one of many of the things I’m sharing with you today.
The fifth one, and probably the most important is. Getting time alone. You may have heard me speak or give a workshop on this, but I often refer to this as purposeful solitude, and it’s really important to have time by yourself, for yourself, to give you the space that you need to, number one, be able to do different activities like I’m describing today, that help center you, but also to help do things that, spark joy and [00:09:00] creativity and help you clear your mind, during times of stress.
So one example that I always share, and I would love to hear of a famous female entrepreneur leader that does this. So if you know somebody, drop it in the comments, so I know. But the best example that’s fairly well known is Bill Gates. Every couple of months he rents out a cabin in the woods and just goes and reads, and that’s all he does. He’s by himself. He reads books and that’s how he resets himself.
This is a practice that I started doing myself many years ago, and I’ll find if I’m starting to feel like I’m not present and I’m starting to disconnect a bit, one of the quickest ways that I can bring myself back into that is by taking that time.
And I’m usually not taking this time if I’m starting to feel connected, if you get the gist. When this happened recently, this past week, I decided, you know what? I am going to take a day next week where I’m maybe gonna take the afternoon when the kids are in school, and I’m gonna go thrifting.
I love thrifting. [00:10:00] It’s one of my favorite things to go do. So it doesn’t have to be a selfcare activity, like going for a massage or getting your nails done. It could just be something that you just. Straight up, enjoy. So that’s definitely something that’s helped me, get more present and in the moment when you’re actually going to do things that you like and it’s helpful too ’cause it creates that time and space for you to think and actually process everything that’s going on by not being required to do something that’s on your task list.
Purposeful solitude highly recommend it.
Now remember, when it comes to feeling fully present, it’s not about doing more, right? I know I just threw a lot of different activities on things that you can do, but it’s not about doing more. It’s about removing what’s blocking you from feeling right here, right now. Which all the five things that I just shared, I know those are all activities that help me specifically connect with myself.
All right, so to recap everything I shared today, I gave you [00:11:00] all the five specific things that I do to reconnect with myself and feel fully present again and that includes creating more space in my calendar and includes spending more time outdoors. It includes prioritizing movement. Whether that be yoga or exercising or even just walking on my walking pad while I check my email.
It includes meditation, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes. And it includes making sure that I am spending alone time.
I would actually love to know of the five different strategies I shared to become more present, which one are you gonna test out first, drop it in the comments, or better yet, if you actually know of one that works better that I have not mentioned, share that in the comments too.
too . for checking out the next step with Cory Lowe. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend, subscribe and leave a review. Together we’ll transform overwhelm into action and we’ll keep taking the next step towards competent leadership. See you next [00:12:00] time.