Whatever the speed you move through in life, make sure it’s your own.
We have a deep fascination with fast completions.
The 30day/30lb. weight loss story. Homeless to millionaire in a month. “I write all my blog posts in 15mins max.” Stories of speed. Multi-tasking. Fast fingers. Scratching your to-do lists to shreds.
For some people, breakneck speed is their absolute genius zone. Their best ideas, lovey doviest moments and biggest accomplishments that pop up lightning quick.
If you’re one of these Breakneck Types:
- The idea of booking a two-week vacation 12 hours before departure makes you giddy.
- You’re famous for cancelling plans at the last minute because you’ve found something (or someone) far more exciting.
- You have an app for everything. Everything.
At work, you might want to take your boss aside and ask for strict deadlines for every task she assigns, because you thrive when you’re pushing it right to the wire. Adrenaline and ticking clocks light you on fire and your best work burns through fast and strong every time.
So if that’s your natural pace, dear Breakneck one, the question becomes: How can you create more situations at work and at home that support this need for speed?
How can you help the people in your life understand that spontaneity and sudden, (seemingly) jerky movements really float your boat and bring forth your brightest creative ideas?
Repeat after me: I am not flighty or inconsistent. That’s just my flow. Burning rubber with sudden stops and turns. Flexible and fast. That is the pace that births your juiciest stuff. Embrace it.
Or you might be an Easy Breezy Type if:
- Your power-walker Breakneck friends get annoyed because leisurely ambling down the street is your preferred method of transportation.
- Your phone regularly goes straight to voicemail because you’ve turned it off for some silent time.
- While the Breakneckers are skiing down the mountain, you’re curled up with a book in front of the fire, sipping hot cocoa.
You might like deadlines at work too – but for a different reason. You like that a deadline (especially one that’s far away) gives you a distance to gradually cross as you make your way to the finish line. That way you can percolate on the task for days or weeks and then slowly do a piece here and a piece there. You like to marinate in it, then take a long walk and wash it from your mind completely and then pick it up again. Your best stuff almost always appears after being slowly, meticulously cultivated. Slow and relaxed is your magic zone.
For an Easy Breezier, that might mean working with a team/in an industry that supports your long, casual process. At home, you might think about getting up an extra half hour early so that you can take your sweet time getting dressed super slowly each morning. If a deliberate and gentle start to the day makes you feel strong and balanced, work with that. That’s who you are, Easy Breezy.
Here are some questions for you to ponder: How can you create situations at work and at home that support this need for a slow-like-molasses pace?
How can you help the people in your life understand that stretching an experience out helps you soak up all the juiciest pieces of it, connecting and creating at your most optimal? Let’s be done with believing that the speed at which we move through the world has to coincide with the advice of the time management guru of the moment.
However you flow best is how you flow best.
The minute you claim that and begin leading with your natural pace instead of resenting it, your creativity will soar, your relationships will feel oh-so-much-more groovy and you’ll catch your reflection in the coffee pot and realize you’ve been washing the dishes with a big grin on your face.
Embrace your pace.
Image: Sodanie Chea