One Step At A Time, You'll go Much Further

Hustle, hustle, grind grind, rise & shine! One end of the spectrum tells you to be lazy, the other tells you to relentlessly work. Although each side has its merits, going too far to either end is not healthy for you. It's much better to take things one step at a time.

Modern people are conditioned by instant gratification like video games & social media to expect the result in a short amount of time without having to put in too much effort. The end result is people who are so undisciplined that they can't see important tasks through to their end.

There is a balance to be struck, but many people can't seem to find it. This is especially detrimental for men since we are primarily goal-oriented.

By taking one step at a time, you make much more progress than you ever thought you could. Here are three lessons I learned from taking things slower.

1. Fewer Mistakes are made

The main problem you will face from going too fast is mistakes. Making too many mistakes will cripple your confidence & make you feel apathetic. This was no more apparent in my life than in high-school English.

I hated English, so I'd always procrastinate till the last minute, then rush my work before the deadline. I still passed, but my marks suffered for my methods. 

The only English assignments where this didn't happen were for speech arts because we'd do that work during class. Every year, I'd deliver a bang-out speech, scoring an A each year.

Fast forward a few years, and my methods became more focused & consistent. I'd read at least one chapter of my book each day, I'd spend 15 minutes on self-study, and I'd work out (still do) at the same time on the same days each week.

This change in methods led to me taking one step back for every nine steps forward. By taking one step at a time, I was making so much more progress with fewer mistakes.

2. Avoiding Burnout Becomes Very Easy

Enemy number one towards making progress is burnout. Nothing stops you in your tracks quite like it.

Burnout is the reason why I ended up dropping out of college. Both my mental & physical health were being burnt out because I couldn't keep up with the pace.

After dropping out, I found myself with a new problem. I had too much free time on my hands and didn't have much to do with it.

At first, I filled the time with video games, but that didn't last long. To my surprise, I got burnt out from playing video games all day.

To fix this, I picked up my first two good habits: exercise & meditation. I meditate every day at night, while I would work out three times a week. After a while, I started playing video games again, but this time it was enjoyable again.

Because of the way I was filling my time, I couldn't really get burnt out from anything I was doing. Because I wasn't taking my tasks to the extreme, I was able to strike a balance of sorts. I found the pace that I can handle.

3. One step at a time toward Greater Mental Health

The greatest byproduct of slowing down my pace was the effects it had on my mental health, separate from burnout. Going one step at a time allowed me to find a peace I had thought was long gone.

Look around at most people you know, and you'll notice that they don't have control over their schedules. Their boss tells them when they clock in, and everything else has to adapt to that.

This is exactly what I felt when I was at college. I had no control over my time or what I did with it until I was done with my work, and I hated it.

The relief I felt after dropping out was nothing like I'd ever felt before, but I knew what it was. I'd always had the mantra of "Do well in school so you don't have to repeat." Finally, after so many years, I didn't have to repeat the cycle anymore. 

A few months ago, I read a book called The Psychology of money, and a very interesting point in it is that the greatest indicator of happiness for people is control over their time. By dropping out, I was finally in control of my time & what I did with it, which is what I'd wanted all along. 

Sometimes, in order to obtain the pace we want in life, we have to make drastic changes. By adjusting my pace to be able to go one step at a time, I achieved the time freedom I'd always wanted.

Take action, but take action one step at a time

In a previous post, I talked about how we as men need to get going before worrying about details. This is still important, but you also need to go at a pace you can handle.

This is the balance to be struck: get going, but do it at a pace you can handle. By doing this, you get the best of both with little to none of the worst of either.

If there are any topics you'd like to see me cover

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 - Karl

If you liked this post or found the content helpful, consider checking out my Mind over matter masculinity blueprint. In that program, I go into more detail about pacing yourself properly. More details on my products page.