‘You’ve gotta be more flexible and adaptive.’ I remembered my friend saying. His words hit me hard. I realised he was right — I had been too rigid and slow. Still figuring out what I wanted to do, I required full focus and could easily be distracted by the smallest remark or an unexpected interruption.
However, I needed time to figure out my path and create a course of action. I often felt I was missing out, not doing what I should, and wasting time. It wasn’t until I worked through my patterns, understood my wishes, and acknowledged my limitations and aspirations that I made progress.
Yet, only upon achieving a vision of where I was heading to, I stepped out of my stress zone and was capable of reflecting and learning, equally concluding that:
- it was essential to move slowly to be able to jump,
- as well as to master walking before attempting a marathon.
Without knowing exactly what I wanted, I couldn’t set a plan of action or be clear about my priorities. That resulted in flaky boundaries. Without a vision, I couldn’t establish authentic, meaningful goals aligned with my values.
Figuring all that out required learning how to listen to myself, which took time and solitude. Being alone allowed me to hear myself. Reflecting on the past as feedback and treating current setbacks as lessons from an observer’s perspective. I gained more clarity about my key drivers, principles, strengths, and weaknesses. This clarity helped me ask the right questions.
Only once all these elements were in place did it make sense to try, test, and adjust the system. After refining it and ensuring it functioned well, it was time to learn flexibility. It’s like driving a car — first, you learn the basics before you can drive on autopilot. It takes time and practice.
Sometimes, we want everything immediately, demanding too much from ourselves prematurely. That’s when we burn out. It’s about using the right gears at the right time.
