Doing this *feels* productive, but it’s not

Unsexy Business Advice Most People Will Ignore (At Their Own Peril!)

A few nights ago, the opening song for The Girlboss Apology Tour came to me in a dream. 

The pre-roll music. Y’know, like, the intro song? 

I thought it would be so fun if I wrote one. My brain must’ve been working on it in my sleep because the song swooped in fully-formed in the middle of the night. Problem is, I never remember melodies or lyrics from my dreams. I’m too light a sleeper to wake up and sing them into my phone, or even have my phone anywhere near my bed. 

But I remember the line “slow down” was repeated over and over. I rejected the song immediately, OBVIOUSLY! Waking up to write it down was not even a consideration.

Slow down? No one wants to hear that.

A lot of the business owners I know operate like someone is chasing them. Go slow?!? I’ve got a mortgage to pay! There are fires burning everywhere! Show me the fastest path to six figures! 

If that’s you, cool. 

It’s okay to want shortcuts and speed. You need a quick and dirty “fastest path to money”-type business strategy now and then. You need an uncomplicated offer so that you can pick up the phone and sell to three people, without building a $2500 sales page and 12-email sales sequence with rolling expiring bonuses. 

It’s important to have an efficient path to money, whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been doing this ten years like me. No shame in wanting speed. 

But the deeper message of “slow down” is still important. 

Slowing down in your business can look like—

-> Scheduling time between calls, to absorb what was said, notice what you really think about, check in with your body, and arrive present to the next conversation. My heart hurts for people who rush off calls to get to their next thing 

-> Saying “let me think about that” instead of making commitments on the spot

-> A daily check-in with nature, your favourite card deck, or your brother’s ashes — ideally before you check your phone, but the practice is more important than the timing

-> Not replying to emails right away, or apologizing for your “late reply” that’s not even remotely late — and also not buying into someone else’s story about the imaginary email deadline you never assigned them

-> Not pitching an idea the same day you got excited about it (Write it down! Capture that momentum! Then sit on it for a day.)

-> Letting critical feedback sit for a time, until you're ready to address it from a regulated, grounded place — that includes your own internal critique about something you think you did “wrong”

Your business can’t really move faster than the pace of your nervous system. Ignore this advice if you want to end up with a business you hate. Or, just as likely, a business your body rebels against with inexplicable sickness and fatigue.

All that rushing from project to project, from conversation to conversation, from email to email, it may feel like you’re being productive, but you’re actually just reacting, reacting, reacting all day long. 

Slow down. 

Take a breath. 

Step out of the reactivity loop. 

It doesn’t mean things don’t get done. The opposite! Things get done thoughtfully and effectively, and you don’t spend precious time backtracking and redoing. 

I shared some of my slowing down practices, now you share yours. 

Slowing down is fucking badass. It’s an act of resistance. You are rebelling against the colonial capitalist patriarchy. I want to celebrate you for that. 

So…how do you slow down? 

Hit “reply” and share. 

~ Tarzan

Tarzan Kalryzian [she/they]
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