New book released today says it’s OK to be late sometimes: The case for everyday slowmaxxing
Burnout is not going away and a growing number of people have stopped waiting for a productivity hack to save them. Slowmaxxing, the deliberate slowing of ordinary routines like making coffee, taking a walk or reading a book, has moved from a corner of the internet into a full wellness conversation. Instead of optimizing every minute for more output, you optimize for less urgency.
The term traces back to a 2022 tweet from user @robyns_quill and an early Urban Dictionary entry before Vice’s May 30 explainer pushed it into the mainstream this year. Alex Snider, a facilitator at Slow Mindfulness and author of the book “Sometimes You Should Be Late,” released on July 7th, 2026 says the practice is about recovering the nuance and presence that gets lost when people rush through daily life.
How Slowmaxxing Works
Slowmaxxing is less a routine than a reset. The idea is to pick one ordinary task and refuse to rush it. Drink your morning coffee without your phone nearby. Take a walk without a podcast playing. Read a physical book without treating it as something to check off a list.
Upworthy’s reporting on the trend argues that constant multitasking and algorithm driven content have trained modern nervous systems to feel suspicious of stillness. The average person keeps five to 10 browser tabs open at once, a small detail that shows just how fragmented daily attention has become. Slowing down on purpose isn’t really about relaxing. It’s about recalibrating how your nervous system responds to the world around you.
A cognitive psychologist at the University of Chichester adds a research backed layer to the trend, explaining that slowing down allows for what’s called attention restoration by working with the brain’s natural rhythms instead of against them. That gives slowmaxxing a scientific footing rather than a purely aesthetic one.
Why Slowmaxxing Is Gaining Traction Now
The economic backdrop matters here too. The Global Wellness Institute reports the global wellness economy hit a record $6.8 trillion in 2024 and is projected to reach $9.8 trillion by 2029, growing 7.6% annually. Mental wellness, one of the fastest growing parts of that economy, expanded 12.4% annually from 2019 to 2024. North America leads the world in per capita wellness spending, which helps explain why this trend has landed so hard with U.S. audiences this year.
Slowmaxxing also fits a specific mood among younger adults. Newport Institute frames it as a low barrier mental health entry point, not a substitute for therapy but an easy first step for anyone feeling overwhelmed by constant urgency.
An early 2022 op-ed in the University of Calgary’s student newspaper described the idea as the antithesis of hustle culture, one that finds satisfaction in mundane tasks rather than cramming productivity into every waking moment.
How Slowmaxxing Differs From Mindfulness and Slow Living
Mindfulness and slow living aren’t new ideas. Slowmaxxing borrows from both, but its focus is pace rather than presence for its own sake. It’s often mentioned alongside a related trend called joymaxxing, which centers on actively seeking out joy rather than simply slowing down. The difference is subtle but useful. Slowmaxxing is about how fast you move through your day. Joymaxxing is about what you choose to feel while you’re in it.
How to Try Slowmaxxing Today
Getting started costs nothing. Here are a few ways in:
- Drink one daily beverage, like your morning coffee, without a screen nearby.
- Take a 10-minute walk with no podcast, phone call or step count goal.
- Read a physical book for 20 minutes without tracking how many pages you finish.
- Cook one meal a week without a recipe on a screen or a timer running.
None of it requires a subscription, a device or a coach. In a wellness economy racing toward $10 trillion, a trend that asks people to do less, spend nothing and put the phone down has an obvious appeal.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
