As entrepreneurs and creatives, we’re great at imagining the future.
- All of the things we want to create,
- The changes we want to make,
- The vision we hold.
That future focus is powerful.
But there’s a lot of power in looking back to the past, and seeing how far we’ve come, too.
We’re often so busy pushing toward the next goal or milestone, that we forget to appreciate what we’ve already accomplished.
I’m often guilty of this.
But I’ve been practicing comparing my present self to my past self, instead of where I think I “should” be by now.
When Slow Is Good
We’re often in a hurry, so we watch or listen to things at 1.5x or 2x the speed.
Most of the podcasts and audiobooks that we listen to have a higher speaking rate than regular daily speech.
I get it, we’re trying to absorb as much information and entertainment as we can.
But have you ever watched a video clip in slow motion?
You notice more when things are slowed down.
Maybe you even see how a video was made.
It might take the mystery out of it, but it also gives you a better understanding and helps you see behind the curtain.
In permaculture, an ecological design practice, we’re encouraged to start small and slow. To learn with smaller experiments before expanding.
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Getting Ahead Of Ourselves
The first spring we moved to our small farm in Southern Ontario, I was raring to go and planted 6 trees.
As someone who likes to think of the future of these trees as big majestic and productive fruit-bearing beings…
I wanted to plant these trees as soon as I could.
You know the saying:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time to plant a tree is now.”
So I picked a spot, close to the barn, and away we went.
But what I didn’t realize is that the spot I picked was prone to water logging. And fruit trees don’t love wet feet.
So out of the 6 trees I planted, only 3 survived. Only one is thriving, the other two are limping along.
But I learned from that first year’s planting efforts.
For the next trees, I decided to plant them on berms of raised soil. This way the water would flow down and the tree roots could stay dry.
I figured I had the problem solved, so I went ahead and planted 10 trees and shrubs.
But that summer it was very dry and I had to use a bucket to hand water each tree.
I lost a good chunk of those trees, too.
The third year seemed to be the turning point. I planted only 5 trees, on berms again, and I was able to take better care of each one.
I also planted them earlier in the spring, so they got established before the summer heat hit.
Not only did they all survive, but we even got fruit from them the next summer. A dozen peaches and one cherry.
That might not seem like much, if I’m trying to achieve a production milestone, like feeding my kids from these trees.
But if I compare the yields of these trees to those I planted in previous years, it’s a tremendous success.
A 100% tree survival rate and fruit the following year? That’s amazing.
An Honest Look at Success
I feel like we overlook successes like these in our businesses too.
The fact that you’re here, right now, is a big deal.
Maybe you had big ambitions and tried to do too much in one year…
Maybe you couldn’t anticipate the changing weather patterns in your industry…
Maybe you had a lot of amazing ideas but not enough energy to nurture them to fruition…
That’s okay.
Starting small and slow is how we gain experience, figure out what works, and keep going.
Once you’ve got a strong foundation to grow from, that’s when things start to take off.
How do you build that foundation?
In the present.
Informed by your past experience.
Even the experiences that don’t directly relate to your business or creative ventures can guide you.
Looking toward the future.
What you can picture for yourself, your customers, and the world at large.
With gratitude in your heart for what has led you to this moment and an unattached vision of what’s possible.
Past, present, future.
Focusing on what matters most.
Not the performance of your life for a digital audience, but truly living the life that makes you happy.
Even within the context of the topsy-turvy world we live in, where nothing stays the same forever and some things are slow to change…
Your momentum is built out of the small moments of your life.
Momentum is not a destination, but a force that ebbs and flows.
You can enjoy the momentum when it carries you forward, and appreciate when it slows you down.
May your upcoming year be full of love, joy, health, and success. On your terms.
