You’re probably vibrating. Not the good, high-frequency "Zen" kind of vibrating, but the kind where your internal gears are grinding against each other because you're trying to do three things at once while thinking about a fourth. We’ve turned "busy" into a personality trait. It’s a badge of honor we wear to prove we matter. But honestly? It’s killing us.
John Mark Comer popularized the phrase the ruthless elimination of hurry, borrowing it from his mentor Dallas Willard. When Comer asked Willard how to become the person he wanted to be, the answer wasn't a complex theological framework or a 10-step productivity hack. It was just: "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."
It sounds extreme. Ruthless? That's a violent word for a peaceful goal. But it’s necessary because the world we live in is equally violent toward our attention.
The difference between being busy and being hurried
Let's get one thing straight: having a lot to do isn't the problem. You can have a full calendar and still have a quiet soul. Jesus, for example, was technically "busy"—people were constantly mobbing him, he had a massive mission, and he traveled everywhere on foot—yet he never seemed hurried. He had time for kids. He had time to stop and talk to people by a well.
Hurry is a state of mind. It’s that frantic, "I’m behind schedule" feeling that makes you snap at your spouse because they’re taking too long to put on their shoes. It’s the physiological stress of a "fight or flight" response triggered by a red light or a slow internet connection. Corrie ten Boom once said that if the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy. Why? Because both have the same effect: they cut you off from your ability to love, to listen, and to actually be present in your own life.
Why we are so obsessed with speed
We are the first generation in human history to carry the entire world's expectations in our pockets. Every notification is a tiny demand.
Psychologist Robert Levine has spent years studying "pace of life" across different cultures. He found that in "fast" cities, people are more likely to have coronary heart disease. It’s not just the stress of work; it's the speed of the environment. We’ve been conditioned to believe that faster is always better. 1-click ordering. High-speed rail. Fiber optic internet. 5G. We’ve optimized for efficiency but forgotten that the best things in life—relationships, art, deep thought, good food—are inherently inefficient.
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You can't "microwave" a friendship. You can't speed-read a poem and get the same soul-level impact as sitting with it for an hour. When we apply the logic of the assembly line to our personal lives, we end up feeling like machines. And machines don't feel joy.
The physical toll of the "Hurry Sickness"
In the 1970s, cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman coined the term "Hurry Sickness." They noticed their patients weren't just stressed; they were physically incapable of waiting. They’d try to finish other people’s sentences. They’d count the items in the grocery basket of the person in the "10 items or less" lane.
This isn't just an annoying personality quirk. It’s a health crisis. When you live in a state of hurry, your body is flooded with cortisol and adrenaline. Constant cortisol exposure leads to:
- Weight gain around the midsection (the "stress belly").
- Impaired cognitive function (brain fog).
- A weakened immune system.
- The literal shrinking of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory.
Basically, by trying to do everything faster, you're making yourself slower, dumber, and sicker.
How to actually practice the ruthless elimination of hurry
You can’t just "decide" not to be hurried. You have to build a life that makes hurry difficult. It’s about creating friction.
1. The discipline of slowing down
Try driving in the slow lane. Seriously. Just for a week. See how much it angers you, then ask yourself why. Why does arriving three minutes later feel like a personal failure? Or try picking the longest line at the grocery store. Use that time to breathe, to look around, or to pray. It’s a small rebellion against the cult of efficiency.
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2. Silence and solitude
Blaise Pascal famously wrote that all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. We are terrified of silence because in the silence, we have to deal with ourselves. Our anxieties, our regrets, and our boredom all bubble up. But you can't eliminate hurry if you're constantly plugging your ears with podcasts and music. Start with ten minutes a day. No phone. No book. Just sitting.
3. Sabbath (The real kind)
This isn't just a religious rule; it's a neurological necessity. One day a week, stop. Don't produce anything. Don't buy anything. Don't check your work email. In his book, Comer talks about how the Sabbath is a "cathedral in time." It’s a 24-hour period where you're not a consumer or a worker; you’re just a human being. If you think you can’t afford to take a day off, that’s exactly why you need to.
4. Simplicity
Hurry is often the result of wanting too much. More clothes, more hobbies, more status, more experiences. Every "thing" you own or "activity" you sign up for requires time to maintain. If you want to eliminate hurry, you have to eliminate stuff. Say no to the "good" opportunities so you can say yes to the "great" ones. Minimalism isn't just about having a clean house; it's about having a clear schedule.
The uncomfortable truth about "efficiency"
We think that if we just get more "organized," we’ll eventually have time to relax. This is a lie.
Efficiency is a treadmill. The more efficient you become, the more people expect from you. If you answer an email in five minutes, you get another email five minutes later. The only way to win the game is to stop playing by those rules. You have to accept that you will never finish your to-do list. There will always be more to do than there is time to do it.
Accepting your limitations is the beginning of peace. You are a finite creature. You have 24 hours in a day, and you need 8 of those for sleep. That leaves 16. Subtract chores, commuting, and hygiene, and you're down to maybe 10 or 12. You cannot fit 20 hours of "life" into 10 hours of time. Stop trying.
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Real-world evidence of the shift
There is a growing movement of people who are opting out. Look at the "Slow Food" movement that started in Italy as a protest against McDonald's. It wasn't just about the food; it was about the culture of sitting together and enjoying a meal. Look at the rise of "digital detox" retreats. People are paying thousands of dollars just to have someone take their phone away for a weekend.
Even in the corporate world, companies are starting to realize that "hustle culture" leads to burnout and poor decision-making. Deep work, a concept popularized by Cal Newport, requires the opposite of hurry. It requires long, uninterrupted blocks of time where the brain can reach a state of flow. You cannot reach flow when you are checking your watch every ten minutes.
Moving forward: Your "Ruthless" Audit
If you’re ready to actually try this, don't start with a big lifestyle overhaul. Start with an audit. Look at your last seven days.
- When did you feel the most "hurried"?
- Was it during the morning routine?
- Was it the transition from work to home?
Identify those trigger points. If the morning is a nightmare, get up 30 minutes earlier or prep everything the night before. If the drive home is stressful, stop listening to the news and switch to something that helps you decompress.
The goal isn't to become a monk. It’s to become someone who is present. Someone who can look a friend in the eye and listen to them without thinking about their next appointment. Someone who can taste their coffee. Someone who is actually alive.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Turn off all non-human notifications on your phone. If it’s not a text or a call from a real person, you don’t need a buzz in your pocket.
- Set a "digital sunset." Put your phone in a drawer at 8:00 PM and don't touch it until morning.
- Practice "The One Thing." For the next 24 hours, try to only do one thing at a time. If you're eating, eat. If you're walking, walk. No multitasking.
- Identify your "Hurry Triggers." Write down three things that make you feel frantic (e.g., being late, a messy kitchen, a full inbox) and create one "speed bump" for each to slow the process down.