If Nice Guys Finish Last, Do Slow Guys finish last too? I’ll never know.
Although I’ve never gone sky-diving, I’ve felt the wind in my hair at many vantage points. Although I’ve never driven in a Formula 1 race, I know my way around a repeating track. Although I haven’t gone to the Kentucky Derby (yet), I’ve experienced the adrenaline leaving the gate.
Wellness trends in wintering and slowing down, while I’ve read all about these topics, feel foreign in my bones. I’ve been told to slow down often, especially in my 40s. People who cannot possibly live inside my happy excited brain, lapping up new concepts like our pup, can factor how my core operates.
Perhaps those who move at a different pace should stay there, admiring my wake, instead of insisting on a new pace.
Is there a book where men are asked to slow down? Start ups and technology are fast, industry is fast. Athletes are fast and mindful, too.
Our genetics bless and curse us when our aging nerves create deeper and deeper tracks. As we age, we become set into a pace that will lessen as our cells regenerate. Living a slow life, isn’t anything I’ll sign up for anytime soon. My mind works quickly, and in slow mode turns into mush. Having led large teams, I realize every pace is needed to keep progress well rounded.
The constant unsolicited advice to slow down, is not longer sticking. Has anyone ever told a male counterpart in my generation to slow down? I have never heard that feedback given to anyone but a female.
Slowness isn’t in my genetics, so please understand that although I live in a winter climate from December to March, like the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, mine looks different than yours. As the sun sets earlier, I write more, I workout differently, my mediations are midday, but I’m still active.
There are my personal benefits to moving fast, thinking fast and feeling fast. In honor of cheetahs, please stop telling me to slow down.
Are you in a similar situation, getting feedback to operate from a new energetic plane and although you might attempt to move like a turtle, in fact you are more like a hummingbird? Stick with me, and see your speed as a blessing.
Benefits to thinking, moving and feeling fast:
1- Decision making –Decisions of all kind enter my head, heart and gut being processed by any data I have. I move to communication in alignment with the information I have at the time. Lingering in perfectionism, over overanalyzing situations, is not an option. Have I made a few mistakes, but so have the slow movers and perfectionists. I trust my intuition, which has skyrocketed through Reiki masters attunements, and move on.
2- Growth mindset is my pulse- Learning mode is within my veins. In a VUCA world, my ability to try new technology or ideas, helps me articulate techniques to clients. Without moving through what I’ve learned, I’d be using outdated tools. I’m not using everything or doing it all at once, but a tenacity around learning will endure over those with a fixed mindset.
3- Adaptability - My brain fires quickly. It’s easy to make shifts at work when obstacles arise. In corporate America, if the project would zig, I would zag. If a big meeting shifted, I quickly moved my week around, too. My performance reviews and bonuses showed my successes through speed and agility. In a corporate space, if you don’t adapt, someone will grab the chair you were once in when the music stops.
4- Letting go - When I make quick decisions on everything from a dinner reservations or to immediately add a $50K technology edit on a work project, beating myself up for a decision that goes a bit off course (in the office or at home) is not where my soul spends any time. Luckily, I am not a surgeon, my decisions are editable or eventually fixable, forgivable or redoable. Those who are so incredibly slow to noodle over decisions are known to be harsh on themselves when something inevitably goes wrong. Letting go quickly is a bonus of moving forward with ease.
5-Achievement- There have not been any goals I haven’t met that I’ve set for myself. Whether it was making Director at 29, getting a COO role in a line of business, moving to San Francisco in my 20s, starting a Holistic Coaching Business, publishing The 24 Oracle Deck, or having a family, speed helps me bring my vision boards to life. Getting paralyzed by a roadblock or timing issue has never served me in the long run. I can get frustrated along the way, but I always strive to hit the shot.
6- Planning- Not everyone who is a speed demon also plans. Breaking down events into small steps, like a workout plan from my college training agenda, increasing with intensity, speed each week, mentally slows me down to make progress. As I tell my clients, you have to eat an elephant one bite at a time.
7- Taking real breaks- I take significant mental and physical breaks, like everyone. My rest looks like preventative medical appointments, eastern medicine techniques with experts I trust, workouts, date nights, sleeping in and reading. I love solo meals, trips and day adventures on weekends. I took many mental health days to step away and reset.
A tip that saved me while I was on the road each week was my built in breaks. i’d leave at least 1 work dinner early to get alone time. No one needed to see me at 6am so I’d find a local yoga studio in any city. My deep imaging meditations are profound, my experiences in breathwork with Bianca Dusic transformative, my yoga flows have given me physical and mental fortitude. Slow might mean you are also a procrastinator.
