Can 'The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry' Help With Anxiety?

I've read 'The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry' twice, and it's a game-changer for anxiety. The book doesn’t just preach slowing down—it gives practical steps to rewire your daily habits. The author nails how modern hustle culture fuels anxiety by keeping us in a constant state of urgency. Simple practices like Sabbath-keeping or mindful pauses disrupt this cycle. I used to check my phone 100 times a day; now I leave it in another room for hours. The shift is profound. The book argues that anxiety often stems from feeling out of control, and by deliberately slowing down, you reclaim agency. It’s not a quick fix, but a mindset overhaul. For deeper dives, try pairing it with 'Digital Minimalism'—they complement each other perfectly.

As someone who battled anxiety for years, this book offered tools I hadn’t found elsewhere. Most anxiety literature focuses on symptoms, but 'The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry' attacks the root cause: our addicted-to-speed lifestyles. The author blends psychology with spiritual wisdom, showing how hurry numbs us to joy and amplifies stress. One chapter revolutionized my mornings—instead of jumping into emails, I now sit quietly with tea for 10 minutes. This tiny habit reduced my cortisol spikes dramatically.

The book’s strength lies in its actionable framework. It identifies four key practices: silence and solitude, Sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. Each has science-backed benefits for anxiety. Silence retrains your brain to handle discomfort without distraction. Sabbath breaks the ‘productivity = worth’ lie that feeds anxiety. The section on ‘speed as violence’ hit hard—how rushing through life makes us emotionally brittle. For visual learners, the author’s interview on 'The Next Right Thing' podcast breaks down these concepts beautifully.

What sets it apart is the lack of guilt-tripping. The tone is compassionate, acknowledging how hard deceleration is in a 24/7 world. I’ve recommended it to my therapist clients alongside 'The Wisdom of Anxiety' for a holistic approach. The book won’t erase anxiety magically, but it builds emotional resilience through deliberate living.

This book is like armor against anxiety’s chaos. Unlike fluffy self-help, 'The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry' confronts how our speed addiction hijacks the nervous system. The author, a former burnout victim, maps how chronic hurry keeps us in fight-or-flight mode. His solution isn’t meditation apps but radical habit shifts—like deleting social media during work hours or walking instead of driving short distances. These micro-changes add up to macro calm.

I tested his ‘slow is fast’ philosophy during a high-pressure project. Instead of multitasking, I blocked deep work periods with literal white space between tasks. My output improved, and the gnawing anxiety faded. The book excels at linking hurry to existential angst—when we race through life, we miss meaning, which fuels anxiety. The ‘examen’ practice (reflecting on daily moments of joy) rewired my brain to notice small wins instead of catastrophizing.

For those who prefer narrative learning, pair it with 'When Breath Becomes Air'—both explore how confronting mortality reshapes priorities. The book’s real gift is reframing anxiety not as a flaw but a signal: your soul begging you to stop running.