Slow is safe

Your heart is racing. Again.

You're checking your emails before you've even got out of bed. There's that familiar tightness in your chest as you scan through your to-do list. You tell yourself you just need to work a bit faster, push a bit harder, and then you'll finally catch up.

That moment never comes.

We've been taught that being busy equals being successful.

This becomes a problem when you're running a business, especially when you're a solopreneur. Let me explain what I mean.

So many of the business owners I work with have made the shift from working in corporate to starting their own business. There's a lot of preparing and planning when you start your own business: everything from figuring out your new logo, designing a website and opening a business bank account.

A very important thing that often gets overlooked however is the kind of mindset that's needed when you are your own boss. This mindset is entirely different from being in a corporate role.

People go into business using the same skills and strategies that helped them be successful in corporate.

Those same strategies can actually lead to burnout when you're working for yourself.

Here's the problem when it comes to running your own business. There is ALWAYS MORE TO DO. Always. You will never reach the end of your to-do list!

This is how it shows up:

·       Always feeling behind with your to-do list.

·       Feeling like you cannot work fast enough to get everything done.

·       Never feeling like you're making progress because there's always another goal, another target.

Corporate is different from running your own business because:

·       No one will tell you that you've done a good job.

·       There's no one else to pick up the slack when you're having a bad day.

·       As a business owner, your work never ends.

Your nervous system is still running on corporate time. It's wired to equate speed with safety, busyness with success. Slowing down feels dangerous. Like you're falling behind. Like something is wrong.

What if the opposite is true?

Running your own business requires an entirely different mindset.

One that recognises that things that seem very 'unproductive' are actually very helpful. Things like taking time off so that you have time to rest, meeting a friend for coffee so that you feel less alone and going for a walk outside so that you get some fresh air.

It also means making choices that don't give you immediate gratification. Like saying no to projects that don't align with your values, even when you need the money. Or working on the foundations of your business instead of just chasing the next sale.

Making time for these things will mean that you are investing in yourself, which means that you are investing in your business.

It means that you are investing in the longevity of your business, ensuring that you are able to show up day after day.

You need to retrain your nervous system to know that going at a slower pace is safe. Your brain needs to learn that going at a slower pace does not mean that you are behind, or that something is wrong.

How do you do this? Well I think the first step is actually just acknowledging that you are operating from a corporate mindset that is just not very helpful right now. This does not mean that you have to discount what you have learned during your corporate career. It does however mean that you need to filter what you need and discount the rest. Your brain and nervous system might need an upgrade, one that reflects your current reality.

Unless you change the way you think about ticking things off your list, you will continue to feel like you are on a runaway train.

Slow is not weak. Slow is sustainable. Slow might be exactly what your business needs right now.