Professional dancers, musicians, and athletes have special skills. Many of these skills are unique to their profession. However, there are certain ones that crossover. It is these crossover traits that probably take an average professional in their specific field to something more. One skill I have thought more and more about during the pandemic. The ability to change to pace.
Starting to learn a new skill, training can be about going slow. Walk then run as the saying goes. With frequent repetition confidence builds. The excitement causes them to want to show off that new skill as frequently as possible. The speed has quickened. They are now moving fast. Then they hit the proverbial wall. They reach a point where they know they are missing something. A good coach approaches them and tells they have the skills, but now need to understand when to use them. There is a time to go slow and time to move fast.
Our in-house musician, Jacob, says “change of speeds adds life to music, creates the emotions, and helps create the story you are trying to tell”. (This is also why I was terrible piano player. I could play slow and fast, just nothing in between. Sorry mom and dad.) In sports, you see this play out all the time. Sometimes your 40 yard dash time doesn’t translate to success on the athletic field.
Life Planning
Everyone is faced with different financial decisions all the time. That’s not newsworthy. The surprising observation is the importance of change of pace in these decisions. Assuming your goals are not either spend or save every dollar, there are trade offs all along the way. Back to professional traits, I would argue people only spending or saving do not need professional assistance. Ignoring which side of the coin they are on and the resulting ramifications, making the same decision each time is easier. Most people can go slow or fast all by themselves.
We have seen the best client outcomes be reached when clients have learned to master this change of pace. We have also seen people go one speed and miss important things along the way (the person always wanting to earn or save more in order to just reach “a number” only to be disappointed at arrival). This is certainly not easy and takes going through potentially difficult discussions. Just as those professionals striving to be better, maybe to reach our best self we need to give it a try.
Takeaway
Pandemic or no pandemic, the world keeps moving and our lives continue to evolve. It’s our ability to change pace given the new situation which will lead to success (as you define it in relation to your goals) now and into the future.