Today our printer starting acting strange. Sara was printing off a manuscript and rather than printing the whole 420 pages in one go (as per usual) it started printing off 20 pages or so at a time. It would spit out one set of 20 pages, then stop and pause for a few minutes, and then print another section, and pause again and so on.

We had a little laugh. How very strange. A printer that takes its time. Why rush the whole manuscript out, when you can just do a bit and rest? Haha. And so forth.

And then I started thinking… we could all learn from our little temperamental machine.

In today’s go-go-go culture, it’s all about the get up, get dressed, get out approach – eating on the run, talking while we type, moving from one activity to the next with a seamless flow, from one To Do list to the next – until inevitably, at some point, we break down, creaking and groaning like our weary Xerox 6100.

So, as we approach the start of the New Year, perhaps it is worth thinking about this a little in 2012. I will try to make a point of taking a little breather between tasks. I won’t start texting the minute I’m on the train, I won’t rush for the tube, or wash up right after eating, or switch on my laptop as soon as I get home. No, I will try, at least once in a while, to pause and just be still before continuing with the next part of my daily routine.

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity & Online Marketing Manager