I didn’t plan to try slowmaxxing: Working from home made it happen naturally and I’ll never go back
The phrase gets thrown around like a wellness trend, but slowmaxxing changed how I move through my day in ways I didn’t plan for. When my commute disappeared, so did the urge to check my phone before my feet hit the floor, and once that reflex went, everything else started to shift too.
I’ve spent the last several years toggling between remote and hybrid work, and along the way I stumbled into a version of slowmaxxing that felt less like a lifestyle overhaul and more like a series of small trades. Sunlight instead of a screen. A home-cooked meal instead of something grabbed on the way out. A load of laundry instead of a doom-scroll. None of it was dramatic, but all of it added up.
If you want the full breakdown of what the term means, here’s a closer look at slowmaxxing and why it’s picked up so much traction lately.
What Slowmaxxing Actually Looks Like Without a Commute
Before remote work, my mornings ran on autopilot. I’d check train times before I was fully awake, scan traffic apps, absorb a slug of notifications and be halfway anxious before I’d even brushed my teeth. Once the commute vanished, that habit had nothing to anchor it. There was no train to catch, no lane to merge into, no reason to know what the delays looked like on the highway. The morning just opened up.
What I did with that opening surprised me. I started going outside first, without my phone, and letting the morning light do its thing before the day officially began. Turns out morning light exposure helps regulate the body’s internal clock and has been linked to improved sleep quality and mood. I didn’t know that when I started. I just knew that sitting outside for 10 minutes felt better than scrolling in bed.
How Slowmaxxing Changed the Way I Eat
The other big shift was food. I used to grab coffee on the way to the office (or make it once there) and figure out a quick lunch somewhere between meetings. Once I was working from my kitchen, cooking three meals a day stopped feeling like a project. It became the path of least resistance.
The money side also hit fast. Skipping the daily coffee shop stop, the pulled-together lunch, the tired-at-6 p.m. takeout order, it all added up to real savings I noticed within a month. Hybrid and remote workers report meaningful daily cost and time savings compared with full-time office workers, and that tracked with what I was seeing on my own bank statements. But the money wasn’t really the point. Cooking gave me a reason to slow down and actually sit with a meal instead of eating it standing up or over a laptop.
Slowmaxxing Means Breaks That Restore, Not Scroll
The biggest quiet change was what happened to my breaks. When I worked in an office, a break meant my phone. A walk to the kitchen, a walk to the bathroom, a walk to a coworker’s desk, all of it punctuated by a scroll. At home, I found myself using those pockets differently. A load of laundry between calls, dishes after lunch, or the best, twenty minutes outside with my dog before an afternoon meeting.
I’m not going to pretend I never pick up my phone during the workday. But defaulting to something physical, even something as mundane as folding a shirt, leaves me feeling more restored (and productive) than a 15-minute scroll session ever did. The break actually functions as a break instead of another input.
Slowmaxxing on a Hybrid Schedule
I spent three years on a hybrid setup, and the office days were where I had to work hardest to protect these habits. The commute back home was the piece I ended up guarding the most. Instead of letting it dissolve into more email or more scrolling, I tried to treat it as a transition, sometimes music, sometimes a podcast, sometimes just nothing. Ten minutes of a slower reentry made a bigger difference than I expected.
The morning was harder to control on office days, so I picked one thing: a few minutes outside with my coffee before I got in the car. It wasn’t the full remote-work version, but it kept the habit alive on the days when everything else felt rushed.
Slowmaxxing When You Work in an Office Five Days a Week
If your job doesn’t have the built-in flexibility of remote or hybrid work, the whole thing can feel out of reach. It isn’t.
Start with one substitution. One meal a day cooked at home instead of bought or a single break where you do something physical like a walk around the block or stretch. Really, anything instead of reaching for your phone. You don’t need to replicate a remote schedule to borrow the parts of it that matter.
The thing I’ve learned about slowmaxxing is that it isn’t really about having more time. It’s about which moments you get to choose, instead of defaulting to habits built around overstimulation and rushing. Naming those moments, morning light, a real meal, a break that isn’t a scroll, makes them easier to protect once life picks back up.
Slowmaxxing as a New Mom
I’m writing this just a few days out from becoming a first-time mom, and I can already tell how much I’ll lean on these same habits once my days look completely different. I’m confident they’re going to help me stay present with my baby while still carving out space to care for myself too.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
