I Get To Set The Pace

By Tricia Scott.

I am the queen of getting it done fast 🙋🏻‍♀️ Everything I do is in double time, with not a second to spare, and it's bullshit. I've been working hard on this one, and the Universe has given me multiple reasons and signs to work (and live) at a slower pace this year. 

At first, it felt a bit like when you've been on a motorway driving at 70mph and hit a village at 30; it feels like you're crawling. My brain was like, WTF is this? MOVE IT drill sergeant style, and I'm still working on not feeling all of the guilt for taking time off or telling my inner Drill Seargent to suck it when my body is crying out for a break. 

Perhaps you've experienced something similar? 

My biggest takeaway here is to learn to listen. You always know what you need, but we tend to get so 'busy' that we stop hearing it, burying our needs under the mountain of pressure to finish this or that and get ahead (whatever that is). There is no absolute timing; you are building something unique, so there can be no comparison. Let that sink in for a minute. 

I refer back to one of my favourite analogies I wrote about here from one of my all-time favourite writers, Ash Ambirge. Ash writes: Surely, when they built the Empire State Building, no one was embarrassed that it WASN'T JUST A BUILDING, ALREADY. Instead, they documented the entire construction process, excited to have the privilege to work on such a monumental new project.'

Your business is no different. Stop being in such a hurry for it to be a complete, finished, shiny project already. Let it be under construction, in constant test mode, and let it (and you) breathe. There are lessons to learn along the way and mini and major milestones to celebrate, but you'll miss them if you're trying to pack another bunch of hours into your already overcrowded day. 

If you're trying to drive at 70mph everywhere, you'll miss the picturesque seaside village you just went through, fuming that you've had to slow down. You'll be looking only for signs of the next fast road, but when you get there, it's just another highway, a blur of concrete and trees, on the way to... where? 

An idyllic existence that looks like a picture-perfect village? A stunning coastline where you can switch out your running shoes for sandals that let you feel the sand under your feet? Didn't you just pass a bunch of those on the way already? 

My point is that if we don't slow down, we miss all of the things we are meant to experience. Perfect timings are presented to us constantly; we just ignore them on the way to the finished product... which looks exactly like the stuff we passed already. 

Forget the social media overnight success stories. It's not real, and it's not sustainable. Much of what we see is simply a (very) narrow lens into a happy snapshot of a near-perfect moment that we couldn't possibly hope to live up to, and that in itself is OK, as long as we keep it in perspective. Compare and Despair is not an outfit I'll be trying on again this Christmas, and I strongly suggest you don't either. I do, however, suggest you try sequins ✨

Think about it (and send me pics of your cute sequin outfits; I'm DYING to see). 

👉🏼 This affirmation was taken from a series I share every Monday with our Hello CEO mailing list. If you want to join in, head to The Homepage and sign up!

Tricia Scott is a passionate startup business mentor and the Founder and Editor of The Female CEO - Create Evolve Overcome, a platform and digital magazine holding the space to showcase female entrepreneurs from all over the world. 

The Female CEO is gaining global recognition daily and Tricia is able to bring her own level of expertise as a start-up mentor and multi-company director to her very exclusive table along with her team of brilliant Guest Editors and Contributors. You'll usually find her with her MacBook in one hand and a coffee or a glass of something fizzy in the other Reach out anytime!