The super simple secret we overlook.
At the end of last year I felt stuck and restless with my work. There were too many plans on the table. Too many deadlines. Unrealistic deadlines. Projects in knots. I was doing all the things but I felt like an overmilked cow.
So I tried something. I took a break. For a few weeks I let my foot off the gas and slowed down. A magical thing occurred: life accommodated the new pace. The world kept spinning. My mood mellowed out, the deadlines became less daunting, and sure enough I gained some healthy perspective from the projects.
Looking back I was surprised by the effectiveness of this small, very ordinary reset. What did I do? Nothing special…I just slowed down. I began to think: can meaningful change really be that straightforward? Don’t you need bells and whistles and guidance and gurus?
I recall a conversation I had with a cashier at a fast food restaurant a while back. I came in dressed in athletic clothes and when I approached the register the cashier asked if I was a runner. I said yes. He said he was too — a marathoner in fact, and that he had just finished another one.
For a solid minute he got jazzed up and rambled excitedly about marathon lore; favorite races and least favorite races; the challenges and excitements…if he was going to do another — then, as his song began to fade, he leaned in, lowered his voice and said something that stuck with me:
He said, You know the secret to beating your PR? I said, No what is it? He said, You just run faster. He chuckled and a wise grin grew across his face. He watched my expression, waiting to see if the epiphany hit me. But I’m afraid I stood there nodding dumbly. He said, Everyone thinks you beat your PR by doing something else, something complicated — you got to change your training, get new shoes, hydrate better, this, that… He shakes his head. No, you just pick up your pace.
I love that little nugget. My marathon friend may have been speaking of runners, but I think his insight is broader. It’s easy to overthink the obvious. Sometimes we overcomplicate, overstrategize, overhype our resolutions, imagining we need a master plan, a list of best practices, another book on habits, before we’re ready to do what we’re supposed to be doing.
We don’t. Sometimes the secret is simple: if you want to slow down — just slow down.
show & tell 