Ladies, in our fast-paced Western-society, which is constantly reaching to achieve new warp-speeds…patience is not often discussed.  Everything is NOW, I want instant gratification, or I will take my business else-where.  When I searched, “speed” on google, every article was about how speed matters, and your business will die if you are not constantly working at a super-sonic level to surpass your competition. But in the end, didn’t slow and steady win the race?   Even when it comes to our favorite TV shows and movies, we can watch it on Netflix or TiVo and it’s commercial free!  Have you ever been somewhere – like a hotel, or the gym – and you had to watch TV with the commercials, or not at all?  It was like a crisis!  No one has time for that!  Why should I have to wait for the people who paid for the show to sell me their stuff I’m never going to buy anyway?  Hmmm, maybe we need an attitude adjustment.

I am the first to admit, I have never been a patient person.  However, as I hit my 30’s, I’m becoming more aware that good things take time.  Quality can’t be rushed.  Many things get better with age – it’s called maturity.

This morning I was thinking about some of the lessons I’ve learned in my professional career.  Some might call them mistakes, some might call them learning opportunities, the truth is, there is just no way to know everything when you’re 22 – because you’re 22!  So much of our success in life comes from experience.  I always wanted to be the smartest person in the room – I’m dangerously competitive – but why should I be smarter than a 45 year old who has more life experience than me?  Of course she is going to have a better idea of the out-come of a situation, or how to handle a certain type of personality better than I can, because she’s already seen it.  Likely a few times!

How can we be expected to be perfect when we’re still learning?  And why do we feel like we need to have already arrived?  Then what?  Do we stop learning at some point in our life?  I hope not.

Now, I have encountered people in my career who were stuck.  They were not growing, learning, or changing in certain areas of their life, because they had just put on the brakes, and their pride wouldn’t let them admit that they weren’t perfect, and needed work.  Or, they had such low self-esteem, that they didn’t feel they were worth the effort.  Both are sad situations, but neither one has to be our situation!

There is value in speed, but there is a balance between pushing yourself to keep moving forward to maximize the time you have to become a better version of yourself, your brand, your organization…versus, rushing past great opportunities, or not having time to think through something because you are simply trying to deliver quickly not quality.  Race against yourself – not everyone else. 

Ladies, give yourself permission to be patient with yourself. Whether it is with your work-outs and nutrition to grow stronger and fitter, or with your work to become more confident and efficient, or with your family, to become more thoughtful and grace-giving.  If you are at all willing to do the work, you WILL keep getting better.  That is the magical thing about time – it keeps on moving.  Like moving side-walk at the air-port, it’s going to take you along for the ride, it’s your choice whether you stand still and arrive the same as everyone else, or you can walk as you ride, and get there a little quicker, accomplish a few more things, and then….you can be the person at the end ready to turn around and welcome those behind you.  That is what a mentor is. That person who has gone on before, learned some lessons, and then is willing to stop and turn around and coach the next wave of professional women.

Let’s be mentors. Let’s be those women who, rather than speeding past the next generation in our own pursuit of success, make the time to reflect on what we’ve learned, and share our hard-earned wisdom with those coming along after us.  The next generation will be the ones supporting us one day, so let’s make the effort. Remember, you are even more awesome today than you were yesterday – so share that awesomeness with someone else!

Blessings today my pretty peacocks, go and strut your stuff in style ❤

~ Captain Morgen