How many times have you heard the saying “you have to learn to walk before you can run?”

Probably quite a few I’d bet.

I’ve been reminding myself to do this quite a bit over the past few months. Telling myself to slow down, not to get too ahead of myself, take it one step at a time, go at a steady pace. They all mean the same thing - don’t run before you can walk!!

Most of us live a very fast pace of life. You work full-time (which these days can mean anything in terms of how many hours that actually equates to), you have a family to take care of, you have friends you want to socialise with, you have social media you want to be social on, you have housework and DIY chores to get to, cooking, washing, exercising, and probably many more. Life is fast and busy.

I had a bit of a dream that when I left my corporate role I’d get time to do some things I’ve had on a list at the back of my mind for many years. I was looking forward to welcoming some time that wasn’t allocated to anything or anybody other than myself. After 20 years with the same company and only my annual holidays and maternity leave away from it, I was a bit excited about finally having some ‘spare’ time.

Time for me to start doing things I’d never had time to fit in whilst working. Like studying to become a Personal Trainer, catching up with family and friends, sorting all of my thirteen-year-old’s photos from day one into albums, doing my wedding photo album (after ten years of marriage), painting the bathroom.

But it didn’t quite work out like that.

Time is a funny thing. You see a day off work as beholding so many opportunities to have the most amazing jam-packed day. You plan in your mind all the exciting things you can do. The reality is it goes by in a blink of an eye. You didn’t manage to fit half of it in.

So, when I left my job and looked ahead at what I would do next, I felt pretty okay since I had a little time on my side, to enable me to study, think, plan, sort, and achieve so much. I didn’t have all of the answers about what my next move to earn an income would be, but I had time to answer that question. I felt calm and clear.

As I started to feel the days quickly passing by, and marking off my first month without a payslip, I felt my energy shifting. I’d began to have a few ideas about my next move, throwing them around my mind. Everything I thought and wondered about took hours of research, with me sliding down an online rabbit hole. Like Alice in Wonderland, once I was in there it was fascinating and bewitching, hooking me in. Half a day gone just like that, the same again the next day.

Once I began planning to set up my own business, everything on my ‘Finally Getting To-Do It List’ was lost on the pages of my notebook. It became all encompassing to plan what I was going to do and how to start setting it up as quickly as possible.

**The pressure of time mounting heavily around me.**

As the business vision became clearer, the time pressure was only mounting more against me. Every minute and hour absolutely vital to making progress, to feel I was doing it right, launching something credible and professional. Knowing I could make a living from it.

The feeling of wanting it all to be exactly right - perfect - is intrinsic to who I am. I threw myself into learning, seeking out information, making contacts with people I could learn from. Once I had my business plan pulled together I needed to know I was doing everything right. I felt the pressure of how quickly each day went by and needing to know I was on the right path to success.

I’m a pretty logical person so know building a new business will take time. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and little steps; lots of tweaks and changes along the way and adaptions as I try things out.

Despite this knowledge, I constantly wanted to do more, make faster progress, see me closer to where I want to get to. I think the reality of setting up a new business, especially as a completely new entrepreneur, is the fear of it not working out. Having a huge weight hanging over you that you might fail. Wanting it so much, believing in it with such passion, and needing to know what you’re doing is right, so that you don’t waste time and money you can’t afford to lose.

The learnings compared to being an employee in a corporate world are steep. The changes to your lifestyle and way of working are enormous. Many of them are positive and bring so much opportunity for learning. I was loving the new experiences and felt driven like never before. But that made me want to be ‘there’ even more.

You have to learn to walk before you can run.

E.L. James

I’ve implemented steps into my day and week to make sure I am walking. To keep me on the path at exactly the right speed; enough to achieve progress but not too much to hit burnout. Using my time realistically - if you’ve ready my Blog on time-blocking you’ll know that this is a great time management tool to use to plan your work into your day realistically and efficiently.

When you have a vision and goals, it can become all encompassing to want to be there right now. To get over-excited, nervous, frustrated and driven. To see all of the solutions and ways to get there, so like a kid in a sweet shop, you want to have them all right there and then. But like many things, it’s a game of balance. Taking one step at a time, feeling your way with care, not racing to the finish line but running out of energy because you peaked too soon.

If you struggle with putting too much pressure on yourself and feel like you need to do things faster than they’re happening, here are five suggestions to help you find more balance - and walk before you can run:

Make a plan for your big goal and work backwards to build out a one-year, monthly, then weekly and daily plans. When you have clarity on what it is you want to achieve, you can break down how you are going to get there so that it’s simple to see what the smaller goals need to be. This will help you stay focused and put energy into only doing tasks that will help you make the right progress.
Enjoy the process. It isn’t only about where it is you want to get to. Accept and appreciate that there will be so much to learn and enjoy along the way. Make the journey as much of a victory as achieving the final goal itself will be.
Remember that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. It’s an old saying, but totally relevant and helps to keep you acknowledge that all good things take time. There are so many stories of ‘overnight success’ around, which make you think you need to smash your goal faster. It’s the world of instant gratification we live in. But truly, big changes and big successes come from lots of little actions that grow and evolve over time.
Track your progress. Make sure you pause regularly to reflect on what you’ve achieved. Clock your wins and reward yourself. When you see the progress you’ve made it reinforces that you are setting the right goals and achieving them. You’ll feel confident that you’re doing things to move closer to your vision and can assess if they’re the right things or need tweaking for better results. Seeing how far you’ve come is critical to you staying motivated and aligned to your goal.
To coin the famous Nike slogan ‘Just do it’. Don’t put off until it feels right, or wait to take steps until you’re in a better place. Procrastination is a biggie in hindering the achievement of goals and dreams. Whatever reason you have for thinking it’s better to wait, that you’ll start something another day, is usually only your own fear. Just do it; make the change, set the goal, take a step forward, have belief in yourself. Progress breeds motivation.

You can also listen to a great TED talk using this link to hear more on why moving at a fast speed might not be the best way for you to make the most progress.

SETTING THE PACE - Why slowing down is the key to making progress

WHY? - Why ‘Why’ might be the key to unlocking health & happiness

LOOKING OUT - Why I’ve been living on constant guard