What Changed Once I Stopped Rushing Myself
Feb 07, 2026Something shifted for me after January.
Not in a dramatic way.
Not in a way that would look impressive from the outside.
But very clearly.
Once I stopped rushing myself, I started noticing how often I had been overriding my own signals.
Not because I did not know better, but because moving quickly felt easier than sitting with what was unclear.
This is not about why slowing down matters.
I have already shared that.
This is about what actually changed once I stopped rushing myself.
I noticed it first in small, everyday moments.
Replying to emails straight away, even when I did not yet have clarity about what the response really needed to be.
Saying yes to meetings because they were already in my diary, rather than checking whether they were still the best use of my time and attention.
I realised I was not responding because it was time.
I was responding to relieve the discomfort of not having decided yet.
I started noticing how often urgency was doing the talking for me.
And how often that urgency was not coming from external pressure, but from internal uncertainty.
Rushing had quietly become a way of avoiding the pause that clarity actually requires.
This is something I see often with capable people.
We move quickly not because speed is required, but because slowing down means we have to confront what is not yet clear.
And sitting with uncertainty can feel uncomfortable, even when nothing is technically wrong.
But clarity does not arrive when we force momentum.
It arrives when we slow down enough to actually see what is going on.
And once clarity is there, something interesting happens.
Decisions do not take longer.
They take less energy.
That has been the biggest shift for me.
I am moving differently now.
Not faster.
Cleaner.
I am making decisions from clarity rather than urgency.
From intention rather than discomfort.
And what I know for sure is this.
When clarity leads, momentum takes care of itself.
You might notice where this is already true for you.
If this resonates, I share more leadership reflections like this weekly in my Leadership Edge LinkedIn Newsletter and on my YouTube Channel.
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