Why Your Life Feels Like It’s Passing You By - The Mindset Mentor

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[00:00]
Rob Dial
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[00:33]
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[00:56]
Rob Dial
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[01:30]
Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode. And before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about a live Zoom lesson that I'm going to be doing. It's called Break the Ceiling. If you've ever felt like you were the one holding yourself back in your income, your relationships, your health, your happiness, every area of your life, this is for you. I'm going to show you exactly what that ceiling is made of and what it takes to break through it for good. Grab your free spot right now@breakthecealing2026.com once again, break the ceiling2026.com and I'll see you live on that session. What if I told you that the reason why life feels like it's speeding by is because your brain has stopped storing your boring memories? From kindergarten on, we're programmed to chase the next level, but nobody ever taught us how to actually live. So if you feel like your life is just slipping through your fingers as you get older, then today we're going to show you how to actually slow it all down and start experiencing life fully. Because, let's be honest, most of us live life like it's one long conveyor belt. And it just keeps moving. And we don't really question what's going on. We just grab the next item before it passes. And then we're like, I don't even like this item anymore. I want this next item. And you have to realize from the moment that you step into kindergarten, all of this programming, like I said, began. They tell you that you have to be a good little boy or be a good little girl so that you can get into first grade and then do well in first grade, so you can get into second grade, and then third and fourth and fifth, and then you have to do really well so you can get into middle school. And then middle school, you better do really well so you can get into high school and get better classes in high school and then high school. It's all about 9th grade, 10th grade, 12th grade. And the whole thing is you're building up towards this thing. College is coming, and colleges matters because, you know, you want to get a good job. And since you work really hard in college and then you end up getting your degree and then you get a job, and then you're chasing the next promotion and then the next promotion, and on and on and on and on. Do you see the pattern here? At no point throughout this entire process were you told, hey, just pause right here. Hey, just. Just breathe here, like, live here. Just enjoy this moment. Instead, it's next and next and next and next and next. And we're programmed to basically always want the next thing. And then people wonder why they're so anxious. And then one day we wake up on top of the corporate ladder or some ladder in life, and you realize that you're standing in a place that you never truly wanted to get to in the first place. That's why midlife crisis exist. Cause people wake up and they think, what the fuck have I done with my life? I don't even wanna be here. And then you don't know how you got there. You were too busy running from one thing to another thing to even notice. Listen, all of us have done this. I have done this. I feel lucky to have gone through a midlife crisis at 24 and another midlife crisis at 29. And so what I want to do is I want you to take a step back and I want you to look at your entire life and ask yourself, what's the point of all of this? It's like we've been brainwashed to go, go, go, go, and to never stop and to get to the next thing. And then when you get the next thing, you have to go to the next thing. But we never really have any idea where we're actually going or why the hell we're actually doing it in the first place. Is that the reason why you're alive here is just to chase the next thing, and once you get the next thing, you don't even notice it? You just go to the next thing? Is that the reason why we're both alive here, to just get to the next thing and never even appreciate it? Like, to not appreciate that thing and just go into the next thing? I know somebody who just accomplished a massive life goal, something big a few weeks ago, something that took him 10 years to build. And when he hit this massive milestone, I asked him, I was like, so how does it feel? And his face, it was like he didn't. It was like it didn't even register in his face how much he cared. It was like he didn't care at all. And he was like, well, it's just. It's pretty exciting. This just shows me what's possible, and I can't wait to see what's next. I was like, what? Like, you can retire right now. And to be honest, it. It made me kind of sad because I've done this. I've done that exact thing. Like, I feel like I missed years of my life chasing this unknown finish line. And I want to make sure you and I never do that again. And so let's dive in and talk about it, right? One thing that I realized when I was younger, probably 27, 28 years old, I realized that we've been raised like sheep. Like, we've been domesticated to just basically follow the leader, to do what we're told to sit in a chair. If you need to go to the bathroom, you need to raise your hand and ask for permission. You've only got five minutes to go to the bathroom.
[06:28]
You.
[06:28]
You need to sit in your chair. You need to face the front. You can only get out of your chair whenever the bell rings. And so we were kind of trained this way, like, to chase grades and to chase jobs and to chase money and to chase promotions. And we call it, quote, unquote, success. But I don't actually think that's success. Like, when you take yourself out of this game of success, you look at that and you're like, that doesn't look like success at all.
[06:54]
Commercial Announcer
What if success for us is actually
[06:56]
Rob Dial
learning to take ourself out of this race and say, you know what? I don't like this game. Like, I refuse to play this game at full speed anymore. Like, I want to slow down and experience my life. Because slowing down and experiencing your life, which is what we're going to dive into and I'm going to teach you how to is the only real way to experience a real meaningful life. And it's scary because slowing down means you might fall behind this race that you never wanted to run in the first place. It feels scary because you might disappoint some people who benefit from your busyness. You might face the terrifying silence of your own thoughts. But slowing down is the only way to actually live and the only way to actually experience life versus just exist. Otherwise you're just a hamster in a wheel that doesn't know how to get off. And so have you ever noticed that as you get older it feels like time actually starts to move faster? There's actually a neurological reason for this and I was doing research on it because I got back from a trip to Italy with my wife about, you know, we were there for about three weeks and while we were on the trip, we were so blown away at how long the trip felt like it was. Like we kept saying, oh my God, can you believe we've only been here for a week? And then we'd say like it feels like it's so much longer. And then we'd be like, can you believe that we did that? It was only 10 days ago. Like it feels like it was so much longer. And we will be right back.
[08:22]
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[11:21]
Rob Dial
And now back to the show. And then when I'm at home and I'm in my routine, it's like three weeks will just pass so fast. And so I did some research in because I was like, are we crazy or is there something behind this? And it turns out all of this is neurological. So the hippocampus, which is your brain's memory center, thrives on novelty. And so when you encounter something new, your brain lights up. It starts encoding all of the details of the thing it Starts storing new snapshots and creating these like rich memory files. But when you're in routine and you're just doing the same thing and chasing the next thing and chasing the next thing, your brain says, oh, yeah, I've already seen this before. And it just is like, we don't need to record any of this. And then your life basically, basically becomes like a highlight reel of everything's the same. That's why when you look back on years and years of routine, they collapse into a blink. And so in neuroscience, what they call this is, they call it temporal compression. It's when experiencers are so repetitive that your brain compresses them into less perceived time. And so when you look at your life, the translation is that if you rush through life and you go from one thing to the next thing to the next thing, you literally experience less of your life. I don't know about you, but that terrifies the hell out of me. And so this isn't this slowing down thing I'm going to be talking about isn't just about like meditating on a cushion. Slowing down is an entire rewiring of your life and your nervous system. It's about training your nervous system and your attention and your values to stop chasing these phantom goals that you're not even going for. And so let me give you a few ways that you can actually do this.
[13:06]
Commercial Announcer
Okay?
[13:06]
Rob Dial
The first thing is called sensory presence. So when you're doing something, you want to bring as many of your senses online as possible. So I've been doing a lot of research on this because I want to. I keep seeing videos of people talking about how much they miss their children when they leave the house or when they're teenagers, how much they miss holding onto them. And so for me, like, when I'm with my son, I'm trying to, like, see him as much as I possibly can. I'm trying to hear him as much as I possibly can. And so when you're with your children, for instance, you're trying to be in the moment and be present. You bring all of your senses and you notice the curve of their cheek. You notice the exact sound of their giggle. You try to bring all five of those senses into this moment and try to burn this thing into your brain. Another way of doing it is to do something that's called micro pauses. And so, like, I don't know about you, but there's some days, yesterday was one of them. For me. I had a Tokyo drift from like one meeting to another meeting to another meeting. I was on from like 9 o' clock until 6 o'. Clock. I was straight on calls. So micropauses basically means before your next meeting, before whatever your next thing is you need to do. Close your laptop, take a deep breath. Like, notice the smell that you smell. Look out the window, Try to really notice the trees, notice all the curves of them, or notice the curves of the mountains that are out there. And then you notice them and you just try to bring in the presence. Like, notice how slow nature moves. Like the trees, when you look at them outside, they're not moving very fast. Well, you're a part of nature that moves very slow. You're not separate of it. And so let the world remind you that it's still here with these little micro pauses where you can kind of take a second to be here, to be in this moment before you go into your next meeting, the next thing of. Another way to really slow down is to try to disrupt your routines. Because I talked about how your, your hippocampus stores everything. I don't know about you and I told you it terrifies me. I don't know about you, but I don't want to not experience my life. I don't want to be stuck in so many routines that I don't do anything different. And so try to start adding some novelty to your days. If you drive to work the exact same way that you've driven for the past seven years, that you just do it on autopilot and your brain is off, try taking a new route home. Try a new restaurant, try a new recipe. Instead of the same old recipes you always do. Call someone that you haven't spoken to in years and you have to remember this novelty expands time in your brain and makes you enjoy your life more. Another way to kind of help with this, have these slow rituals that you bring into your life. So, like, if you're making coffee, try doing it without multitasking. You don't need to be on the phone at the same time or watching YouTube videos at the same time. Like, try to do one thing at a time and to have your rituals be slowed down. So make your coffee and then just notice the smell of the coffee. Make sure that when you take a sip of coffee, you're not just pounding it before you get out the door, but you're tasting every single sip. If you decide to have dinner with your family, do something different. Bring in different thing that will have a slow ritual, which is like you can put a candle on the table at dinner and you can Notice something being a little bit different if you are going for a walk. This might scare some of you guys. Go for a walk without headphones. Some people are listening to me on your headphones right now on your walk, right? So go for a walk without headphones. These aren't just, like, small acts. What they are is they're interruptions in a culture that's addicted to speed and going to the next thing. So you can experience this human experience that you're in. You can actually be there. It's a corny, cliche phrase to stop and smell the roses, but really, that's what it's about. I remember a couple years ago, we were in Santa Barbara. I was walking our dog, and they had these big, huge, beautiful roses. And I walked by them, and I was like, whoa, I've never seen roses this big. I wonder what they smell like. And I smelled them, and I was like, holy shit. I've never smelled a rose like this before. And we stay the same place. So I went by them five days in a row, and every day I stopped, and I was like, oh, this is what they mean, to stop and smell the roses. Like, I'm literally, of course, stopping and smelling the roses. But how often should I start doing this in my life now? To actually notice what's all around me and try to take in as much as I can? And the reason why is because we're here to experience life. We're all moving towards one thing. We might not know what we're moving towards with our goals, but we're moving towards one thing, everybody. And we're moving towards death. And that's the thing that people don't want to talk about. You're going to die. You are. I am. And when you do, none of your resumes, none of your promotions, none of your followers in your your Instagram, none of the money in your bank account, any of those things will actually matter. The only thing that really matters is did you live fully or did you just race past your entire life? You know, hospice nurses have documented this again and again that the number one regret of the people who are dying is not, I wish I made more money or I wish I would have worked harder. It's I wish I lived a life that was true to myself and not the life that other people expected of me. And when we're on this hamster wheel of life, that is the life that other people expect of you. So slowing down is how you live a life that is true to yourself, and you get yourself off of the hamster wheel, and you actually experience this one life that you have. And so here's what I want to ask of you today. Think about this. Ask yourself the question and really think about these. And if I slowed down, what would I notice that maybe I've been missing? If I died next year, what moments would I regret not savoring? If my children already lived out of the house, what would I have missed? You know, if there is no destination, you get to decide what the point of your life is. The art of slowing down is not being about lazy. It's about being here and now. Here and now. Like the. I have a tattoo on my wrist that says, be here now. It's right here on my right wrist. Why? Because when my son was born, I was like, I want to be so freaking present that I'm experiencing every single moment that I possibly can. Because I keep hearing from people over and over and over and over and over again. I miss my kids being that small. I had so much fun when they were that little. So I was like, I want to remind myself by getting a tattoo on my wrist. So I see it all the time.
[19:41]
Commercial Announcer
Just be here.
[19:42]
Rob Dial
Be in the moment. Don't be on your phone. Don't do anything else. Don't think about being anywhere else. It's about refusing to let your one precious life be reduced into just a giant blur. And it's about reclaiming your time as not something just to spend, but something to actually experience. Because life isn't about a race to the end. It's about creating a series of unrepeatable moments that are in your life that are just begging for you to notice them. And so my challenge to you. Slow down, pay attention. Burn the details of every single moment today into your memory. Smell the roses. Listen to your wife's laugh. Watch your kids run around, get off your phone, and watch your children play. Because there will be a day in 40 years where you wish that you could be back in that moment watching your children play in the front yard. You would trade every single dollar that you have and everything that you own to be right back in that moment watching your children play in your front yard again. That's where your meaning lives. But you have to experience it. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it with anyone that you know that would like to listen to it. And if you have ever felt like you're the one holding yourself back with your income and your relationships and your health, I have a live lesson you're going to want to be a part of. I'm going to show you exactly how to break through every ceiling that you have and break through for good so that your life changes. You can grab your free spot@breakthesealing2026.com once again breakthesealing2026.com and with that, I'm gonna leave you the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission. Make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day.
[21:17]
Commercial Announcer
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Summary5 min read

Podcast Summary: The Mindset Mentor – "Why Your Life Feels Like It’s Passing You By"
Host: Rob Dial
Date: July 31, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Rob Dial dives into why life often feels like it’s moving too fast and slipping through our fingers. He explores how societal programming, neurological wiring, and personal habits contribute to this sensation—and, more importantly, shares actionable strategies for slowing down, becoming present, and deeply experiencing life. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and personal experience, Rob challenges the culture of constant forward motion and offers listeners practical tools to make time feel richer and more meaningful.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Conveyor Belt of Life & Societal Programming

From an early age, we're conditioned to always chase "the next thing" (school, college, career, promotions), rarely encouraged to pause and experience the present.
"From kindergarten on, we're programmed to chase the next level, but nobody ever taught us how to actually live." (Rob Dial, 01:42)
This constant striving leads to anxiety and a sense of missing out on life, culminating in moments of existential crisis or disillusionment ("midlife crisis").

2. The Experience of Time & Neurological Roots

As we grow older, time seems to speed up—a phenomenon with neurological roots.
The hippocampus (memory center of the brain) encodes new, novel experiences but glosses over routine, leading to "temporal compression."
"When you're in routine and you're just doing the same thing...your brain says, oh, yeah, I've already seen this before. And it just is like, we don't need to record any of this." (Rob Dial, 11:49)
Novelty and presence are keys to making life "feel" fuller and longer.

3. Interrupting the Cycle: Strategies for Slowing Down

Sensory Presence: Engage all senses in the moment to deepen presence (noticing the sound of your child’s giggle, the curve of their cheek).
- "When you're with your children...you bring all five of those senses into this moment and try to burn this thing into your brain." (Rob Dial, 13:12)
Micro Pauses: Before transitioning from one activity to another, take a brief pause to notice your body, surroundings, and sensations.
- "Before your next meeting...close your laptop, take a deep breath, notice the smell that you smell. Look out the window..." (Rob Dial, 13:44)
Disrupt Your Routine: Create novelty by changing daily habits—take a different route home, try new recipes, reach out to an old friend.
Slow Rituals: Deliberately engage in daily rituals slowly and mindfully (drinking coffee, meals with family).
- "If you're making coffee, try doing it without multitasking...taste every single sip." (Rob Dial, 14:32)
Digital Detox: Take walks without headphones, avoid distractions to encounter the world as it is.

4. The Cost of Busyness and the Reality of Mortality

Societal and professional busyness often distracts us from true meaning and presence.
On our deathbeds, what matters is whether we lived authentically and fully—not our accomplishments or accumulated wealth.
"The number one regret of the people who are dying is not, I wish I made more money...it's I wish I lived a life that was true to myself and not the life that other people expected of me." (Rob Dial, 17:44)
Slowing down is an act of reclaiming agency over our one precious life.

5. Reflection Questions for Listeners

If I slowed down, what would I notice that I've been missing?
What moments might I regret not savoring if I died next year?
If my children moved out, what memories would I wish I’d paid more attention to?

6. Rob’s Personal Practices & Advice

Rob shares about his "Be Here Now" tattoo as a personal reminder to stay present for his son.
- "I have a tattoo on my wrist that says, be here now. It's right here on my right wrist...because when my son was born, I was like, I want to be so freaking present..." (Rob Dial, 19:30)
Encourages listeners to focus less on destination and more on creating and savoring unrepeatable moments.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the futility of chasing the next thing:
"At no point throughout this entire process were you told, hey, just pause right here. Hey, just...breathe here, like, live here. Just enjoy this moment." (Rob Dial, 02:53)
On routine and memory:
"...your life basically becomes like a highlight reel of everything's the same. That's why when you look back on years and years of routine, they collapse into a blink." (Rob Dial, 12:11)
On death and regrets:
"You're going to die. You are. I am. And when you do, none of your resumes, none of your promotions, none of your followers...none of the money in your bank account...will actually matter. The only thing that really matters is: Did you live fully or did you just race past your entire life?" (Rob Dial, 16:21)
On presence as a radical act:
"These aren't just, like, small acts. What they are is they're interruptions in a culture that's addicted to speed and going to the next thing...it's a corny, cliche phrase to stop and smell the roses, but really, that's what it's about." (Rob Dial, 15:18)
On what matters most:
"Life isn't about a race to the end. It's about creating a series of unrepeatable moments that are in your life that are just begging for you to notice them." (Rob Dial, 19:53)
On future regrets:
"There will be a day in 40 years where you wish that you could be back in that moment watching your children play in the front yard. You would trade every single dollar...to be right back in that moment." (Rob Dial, 20:22)

Important Timestamps

01:29–03:50: Introduction of programming to chase the next thing; overview of societal conditioning
06:27–07:47: The cost of busyness and the false concept of "success"
11:20–13:05: Neurological explanation—novelty, hippocampus, and temporal compression
13:06–16:10: Practical methods to slow down: sensory presence, micro pauses, routines, rituals
16:11–18:40: The reality of mortality, hospice nurse insights, and leading a life true to oneself
19:30–20:27: Rob’s tattoo story and anchoring oneself in the present
20:27–20:50: Final challenge to listeners to slow down and savor present moments

Tone and Delivery

Rob speaks with characteristic warmth, candor, and urgency. He blends personal stories, research, and practical advice, speaking directly to the listener as a mentor and friend. The episode is light on self-judgment or guilt, instead focusing on curiosity, awareness, and empowerment.

Summary Challenge & Takeaway

Rob closes by challenging listeners to truly slow down and become present, actively burn new details into memory, and reclaim the fullness of life—beyond the race for achievement. The core message: Make the art of presence your daily practice, because meaning and joy are found not in the next accomplishment, but in the singular, unrepeatable moments right in front of you.

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Transcript18 lines

[00:00]
Rob Dial
Hey, a bad hire can really cost your business, and a great hire can really accelerate your business. Running a small business means every hire really matters. A bad hire can cost you time and money and momentum, and a good hire can help grow your business immensely. Finding great talent isn't easy when you don't have the time or resources to sift through resumes. LinkedIn's new hiring pro screens candidates for you, so instead of sorting through applicants, you can spend time talking to only the right ones. Get started by posting your job for free@LinkedIn.com dial and conditions apply.
[00:33]
Commercial Announcer
Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why drivers have trusted Progressive's name your price tool for years. Just tell Progressive what you want to pay and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Visit progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that works for you. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law
[00:56]
Rob Dial
it's smart to always have a few financial goals, and a really smart one. You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day. And with Discover, you can get this Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. Seriously, all of it. And we trust you to make smart decisions. After all, you listen to this show. See terms@discover.com credit card.
[01:30]
Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode. And before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about a live Zoom lesson that I'm going to be doing. It's called Break the Ceiling. If you've ever felt like you were the one holding yourself back in your income, your relationships, your health, your happiness, every area of your life, this is for you. I'm going to show you exactly what that ceiling is made of and what it takes to break through it for good. Grab your free spot right now@breakthecealing2026.com once again, break the ceiling2026.com and I'll see you live on that session. What if I told you that the reason why life feels like it's speeding by is because your brain has stopped storing your boring memories? From kindergarten on, we're programmed to chase the next level, but nobody ever taught us how to actually live. So if you feel like your life is just slipping through your fingers as you get older, then today we're going to show you how to actually slow it all down and start experiencing life fully. Because, let's be honest, most of us live life like it's one long conveyor belt. And it just keeps moving. And we don't really question what's going on. We just grab the next item before it passes. And then we're like, I don't even like this item anymore. I want this next item. And you have to realize from the moment that you step into kindergarten, all of this programming, like I said, began. They tell you that you have to be a good little boy or be a good little girl so that you can get into first grade and then do well in first grade, so you can get into second grade, and then third and fourth and fifth, and then you have to do really well so you can get into middle school. And then middle school, you better do really well so you can get into high school and get better classes in high school and then high school. It's all about 9th grade, 10th grade, 12th grade. And the whole thing is you're building up towards this thing. College is coming, and colleges matters because, you know, you want to get a good job. And since you work really hard in college and then you end up getting your degree and then you get a job, and then you're chasing the next promotion and then the next promotion, and on and on and on and on. Do you see the pattern here? At no point throughout this entire process were you told, hey, just pause right here. Hey, just. Just breathe here, like, live here. Just enjoy this moment. Instead, it's next and next and next and next and next. And we're programmed to basically always want the next thing. And then people wonder why they're so anxious. And then one day we wake up on top of the corporate ladder or some ladder in life, and you realize that you're standing in a place that you never truly wanted to get to in the first place. That's why midlife crisis exist. Cause people wake up and they think, what the fuck have I done with my life? I don't even wanna be here. And then you don't know how you got there. You were too busy running from one thing to another thing to even notice. Listen, all of us have done this. I have done this. I feel lucky to have gone through a midlife crisis at 24 and another midlife crisis at 29. And so what I want to do is I want you to take a step back and I want you to look at your entire life and ask yourself, what's the point of all of this? It's like we've been brainwashed to go, go, go, go, and to never stop and to get to the next thing. And then when you get the next thing, you have to go to the next thing. But we never really have any idea where we're actually going or why the hell we're actually doing it in the first place. Is that the reason why you're alive here is just to chase the next thing, and once you get the next thing, you don't even notice it? You just go to the next thing? Is that the reason why we're both alive here, to just get to the next thing and never even appreciate it? Like, to not appreciate that thing and just go into the next thing? I know somebody who just accomplished a massive life goal, something big a few weeks ago, something that took him 10 years to build. And when he hit this massive milestone, I asked him, I was like, so how does it feel? And his face, it was like he didn't. It was like it didn't even register in his face how much he cared. It was like he didn't care at all. And he was like, well, it's just. It's pretty exciting. This just shows me what's possible, and I can't wait to see what's next. I was like, what? Like, you can retire right now. And to be honest, it. It made me kind of sad because I've done this. I've done that exact thing. Like, I feel like I missed years of my life chasing this unknown finish line. And I want to make sure you and I never do that again. And so let's dive in and talk about it, right? One thing that I realized when I was younger, probably 27, 28 years old, I realized that we've been raised like sheep. Like, we've been domesticated to just basically follow the leader, to do what we're told to sit in a chair. If you need to go to the bathroom, you need to raise your hand and ask for permission. You've only got five minutes to go to the bathroom.
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You.
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You need to sit in your chair. You need to face the front. You can only get out of your chair whenever the bell rings. And so we were kind of trained this way, like, to chase grades and to chase jobs and to chase money and to chase promotions. And we call it, quote, unquote, success. But I don't actually think that's success. Like, when you take yourself out of this game of success, you look at that and you're like, that doesn't look like success at all.
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Commercial Announcer
What if success for us is actually
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Rob Dial
learning to take ourself out of this race and say, you know what? I don't like this game. Like, I refuse to play this game at full speed anymore. Like, I want to slow down and experience my life. Because slowing down and experiencing your life, which is what we're going to dive into and I'm going to teach you how to is the only real way to experience a real meaningful life. And it's scary because slowing down means you might fall behind this race that you never wanted to run in the first place. It feels scary because you might disappoint some people who benefit from your busyness. You might face the terrifying silence of your own thoughts. But slowing down is the only way to actually live and the only way to actually experience life versus just exist. Otherwise you're just a hamster in a wheel that doesn't know how to get off. And so have you ever noticed that as you get older it feels like time actually starts to move faster? There's actually a neurological reason for this and I was doing research on it because I got back from a trip to Italy with my wife about, you know, we were there for about three weeks and while we were on the trip, we were so blown away at how long the trip felt like it was. Like we kept saying, oh my God, can you believe we've only been here for a week? And then we'd say like it feels like it's so much longer. And then we'd be like, can you believe that we did that? It was only 10 days ago. Like it feels like it was so much longer. And we will be right back.
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[11:21]
Rob Dial
And now back to the show. And then when I'm at home and I'm in my routine, it's like three weeks will just pass so fast. And so I did some research in because I was like, are we crazy or is there something behind this? And it turns out all of this is neurological. So the hippocampus, which is your brain's memory center, thrives on novelty. And so when you encounter something new, your brain lights up. It starts encoding all of the details of the thing it Starts storing new snapshots and creating these like rich memory files. But when you're in routine and you're just doing the same thing and chasing the next thing and chasing the next thing, your brain says, oh, yeah, I've already seen this before. And it just is like, we don't need to record any of this. And then your life basically, basically becomes like a highlight reel of everything's the same. That's why when you look back on years and years of routine, they collapse into a blink. And so in neuroscience, what they call this is, they call it temporal compression. It's when experiencers are so repetitive that your brain compresses them into less perceived time. And so when you look at your life, the translation is that if you rush through life and you go from one thing to the next thing to the next thing, you literally experience less of your life. I don't know about you, but that terrifies the hell out of me. And so this isn't this slowing down thing I'm going to be talking about isn't just about like meditating on a cushion. Slowing down is an entire rewiring of your life and your nervous system. It's about training your nervous system and your attention and your values to stop chasing these phantom goals that you're not even going for. And so let me give you a few ways that you can actually do this.
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Commercial Announcer
Okay?
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Rob Dial
The first thing is called sensory presence. So when you're doing something, you want to bring as many of your senses online as possible. So I've been doing a lot of research on this because I want to. I keep seeing videos of people talking about how much they miss their children when they leave the house or when they're teenagers, how much they miss holding onto them. And so for me, like, when I'm with my son, I'm trying to, like, see him as much as I possibly can. I'm trying to hear him as much as I possibly can. And so when you're with your children, for instance, you're trying to be in the moment and be present. You bring all of your senses and you notice the curve of their cheek. You notice the exact sound of their giggle. You try to bring all five of those senses into this moment and try to burn this thing into your brain. Another way of doing it is to do something that's called micro pauses. And so, like, I don't know about you, but there's some days, yesterday was one of them. For me. I had a Tokyo drift from like one meeting to another meeting to another meeting. I was on from like 9 o' clock until 6 o'. Clock. I was straight on calls. So micropauses basically means before your next meeting, before whatever your next thing is you need to do. Close your laptop, take a deep breath. Like, notice the smell that you smell. Look out the window, Try to really notice the trees, notice all the curves of them, or notice the curves of the mountains that are out there. And then you notice them and you just try to bring in the presence. Like, notice how slow nature moves. Like the trees, when you look at them outside, they're not moving very fast. Well, you're a part of nature that moves very slow. You're not separate of it. And so let the world remind you that it's still here with these little micro pauses where you can kind of take a second to be here, to be in this moment before you go into your next meeting, the next thing of. Another way to really slow down is to try to disrupt your routines. Because I talked about how your, your hippocampus stores everything. I don't know about you and I told you it terrifies me. I don't know about you, but I don't want to not experience my life. I don't want to be stuck in so many routines that I don't do anything different. And so try to start adding some novelty to your days. If you drive to work the exact same way that you've driven for the past seven years, that you just do it on autopilot and your brain is off, try taking a new route home. Try a new restaurant, try a new recipe. Instead of the same old recipes you always do. Call someone that you haven't spoken to in years and you have to remember this novelty expands time in your brain and makes you enjoy your life more. Another way to kind of help with this, have these slow rituals that you bring into your life. So, like, if you're making coffee, try doing it without multitasking. You don't need to be on the phone at the same time or watching YouTube videos at the same time. Like, try to do one thing at a time and to have your rituals be slowed down. So make your coffee and then just notice the smell of the coffee. Make sure that when you take a sip of coffee, you're not just pounding it before you get out the door, but you're tasting every single sip. If you decide to have dinner with your family, do something different. Bring in different thing that will have a slow ritual, which is like you can put a candle on the table at dinner and you can Notice something being a little bit different if you are going for a walk. This might scare some of you guys. Go for a walk without headphones. Some people are listening to me on your headphones right now on your walk, right? So go for a walk without headphones. These aren't just, like, small acts. What they are is they're interruptions in a culture that's addicted to speed and going to the next thing. So you can experience this human experience that you're in. You can actually be there. It's a corny, cliche phrase to stop and smell the roses, but really, that's what it's about. I remember a couple years ago, we were in Santa Barbara. I was walking our dog, and they had these big, huge, beautiful roses. And I walked by them, and I was like, whoa, I've never seen roses this big. I wonder what they smell like. And I smelled them, and I was like, holy shit. I've never smelled a rose like this before. And we stay the same place. So I went by them five days in a row, and every day I stopped, and I was like, oh, this is what they mean, to stop and smell the roses. Like, I'm literally, of course, stopping and smelling the roses. But how often should I start doing this in my life now? To actually notice what's all around me and try to take in as much as I can? And the reason why is because we're here to experience life. We're all moving towards one thing. We might not know what we're moving towards with our goals, but we're moving towards one thing, everybody. And we're moving towards death. And that's the thing that people don't want to talk about. You're going to die. You are. I am. And when you do, none of your resumes, none of your promotions, none of your followers in your your Instagram, none of the money in your bank account, any of those things will actually matter. The only thing that really matters is did you live fully or did you just race past your entire life? You know, hospice nurses have documented this again and again that the number one regret of the people who are dying is not, I wish I made more money or I wish I would have worked harder. It's I wish I lived a life that was true to myself and not the life that other people expected of me. And when we're on this hamster wheel of life, that is the life that other people expect of you. So slowing down is how you live a life that is true to yourself, and you get yourself off of the hamster wheel, and you actually experience this one life that you have. And so here's what I want to ask of you today. Think about this. Ask yourself the question and really think about these. And if I slowed down, what would I notice that maybe I've been missing? If I died next year, what moments would I regret not savoring? If my children already lived out of the house, what would I have missed? You know, if there is no destination, you get to decide what the point of your life is. The art of slowing down is not being about lazy. It's about being here and now. Here and now. Like the. I have a tattoo on my wrist that says, be here now. It's right here on my right wrist. Why? Because when my son was born, I was like, I want to be so freaking present that I'm experiencing every single moment that I possibly can. Because I keep hearing from people over and over and over and over and over again. I miss my kids being that small. I had so much fun when they were that little. So I was like, I want to remind myself by getting a tattoo on my wrist. So I see it all the time.
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Commercial Announcer
Just be here.
[19:42]
Rob Dial
Be in the moment. Don't be on your phone. Don't do anything else. Don't think about being anywhere else. It's about refusing to let your one precious life be reduced into just a giant blur. And it's about reclaiming your time as not something just to spend, but something to actually experience. Because life isn't about a race to the end. It's about creating a series of unrepeatable moments that are in your life that are just begging for you to notice them. And so my challenge to you. Slow down, pay attention. Burn the details of every single moment today into your memory. Smell the roses. Listen to your wife's laugh. Watch your kids run around, get off your phone, and watch your children play. Because there will be a day in 40 years where you wish that you could be back in that moment watching your children play in the front yard. You would trade every single dollar that you have and everything that you own to be right back in that moment watching your children play in your front yard again. That's where your meaning lives. But you have to experience it. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it with anyone that you know that would like to listen to it. And if you have ever felt like you're the one holding yourself back with your income and your relationships and your health, I have a live lesson you're going to want to be a part of. I'm going to show you exactly how to break through every ceiling that you have and break through for good so that your life changes. You can grab your free spot@breakthesealing2026.com once again breakthesealing2026.com and with that, I'm gonna leave you the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission. Make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day.
[21:17]
Commercial Announcer
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