For the past two weeks or so, every traffic light I drive through turn yellow while I’m in the intersection. Those lights are yellow for much less total time than they are either red or green, but I’ve become a yellow-light magnet. What’s more, as I drive under the lights, it almost feels as though my attention is being called: “Psst! Look! Another yellow!”

I have taken this as a hint to slow down. This is something I’ve been told approximately 3,968,452 times. Last month.

Seriously, I’ve been justly accused of overworking pretty much everything: my drawing, my writing, my body. I suspect I’m not the only one. Modern society feels like a treadmill that just keeps speeding up. Conventional wisdom says we should speed up, too. But wisdom and intuition say otherwise, to me and possibly to you. They say, “To get more done, slow down.”

I’ve seen the problem of too much speed and pressure play out in my clients’ lives for years. Couples shout when a kind comment would work wonders. Parents over-control, when their kids need them to just be and let be. Entrepreneurs oversell their products and lose willing customers. Too much can bring on exactly what we’re working to avoid.

I’m starting my slow-down-to-speed-up crusade by writing smaller blogs, more often. Here’s a checklist to help you notice when The Force is giving you yellow lights, too:

➢ You stop getting anything done (hence my lack of blog posts).
➢ You feel cranky and childish.
➢ You lose things, drop things, or forget things to a ridiculous degree.
➢ People tell you that you should back off, or seem very nervous around you.
➢ You’re exhausted (but often can’t sleep).
➢ Your thoughts race.
➢ You feel panicky.
➢ Though you live to serve humanity, you hate everyone.

That’s just a starting list. It’s just to get your attention on the topic, so that you’ll notice when your body and higher consciousness—what I call “your animal and your angel” are collaborating to ask for a slowdown. Go lightly. Go gently. Pay attention to yellow lights. In the end, you’ll reach your destination sooner and with a lot more gas left in the tank.