Changing Pacing

The pacing or tempo of action is as important as the action itself.

This is something I’ve only recently learned. I’m pathologically action biased. I am quick to start and I move fast to finish. Then I move on quickly to the next thing. I don’t think much about timing or plan much beyond the next action.

This serves me well often. It’s a big part of what I’ve accomplished so far. But the further I go and the more complex the goals and challenges, the more valuable it is to deliberately set up pacing.

When an idea comes, rather than act first, I’m finding a better sequence. I walk on it. Then write it out. Then sleep on it. A whole day before even talking about it let alone starting would’ve seemed insane not long ago. Now it’s necessary. After I sleep on it, I re-write it, bullet point it, then talk it through with one or two people. After that, tighten it up a bit more, walk on it, then talk to everyone involved and plan the attack.

This rhythm from idea to action requires a reworking of my internal clock and pressure system. It would’ve killed me once. Now I’m using it as a baseline and adding more chunks of time into the sequence for some actions.

Once acclimated, it doesn’t actually slow the time to completion, and in bigger tasks involving more people, speeds it up. The hardest part is sitting on insight or inspiration and letting it work on me for a bit before I work on it.