Lindsey Witmer Collins is the Founder and CEO of WLCM App Studio, an award-winning software design and development agency.
In my 20s, I did a lot of yoga, meditation and breathwork. I, like many others, believed that mastering the universe started with mastering your breathing.
However, I didn’t truly learn the art of breathing until I started doing sprints. To run faster, farther, I had to breathe bigger, slower, longer. Relax my hands and shoulders. Find the perfect degree of forward lean that actually made running flat-out feel…easy.
Working easy can outperform working hard because it creates self-sustaining momentum. My work in software holds true to this idea. True to form, we call each piece of a project a “sprint.”
Just like at the track, it all comes down to perfecting your form and being relaxed within it.
An Argument For Slowing Down
In growing your business or pursuing whatever life goals you have, conventional wisdom tells us that to catch up, we must speed up. This is the “more over better” thought path (get more work done, make more decisions, land more clients) that sooner or later leads to burnout or disaster.
This requires thinking less, prioritizing metrics over values and outcomes and pressing “skip” on nuance. Such an approach is how we as a society (and tech as an industry) have gotten so very good at things that aren’t really worth doing in the first place.
I’ve seen firsthand that building software at a breakneck pace will actually break your neck—whether for clients at WLCM or my own startup, Scribbly. You’ll cut corners on quality that will come back to haunt you, release half-baked, under-tested features that cause more problems than they solve and accrue technical debt that will spell the demise of your project. When it crashes and burns, it’ll be your money you smell burning.
Consider slowing down. Stop wasting motion. Take the time for discernment, for resetting and decluttering your priorities. I’ve never regretted doing so. Working within a rhythm, seeking clarity above all, smooths the road and the run ahead of you.
Making Smart Concessions
Knowing when to take a breath can be hard. If you’re reading this, you probably hold yourself to a higher-than-average standard. For competitive people like myself, we tend to revel in the grit of sacrifice to one degree or another. That’s healthy, but there comes a point when you realize you’re walking wounded.
In my journey building my business, I’ve learned that if I have a bad attitude or outlook before I even start a task or conversation, then today probably just isn’t the day for it. At a point, you must recognize that you can spend four hours to get it done tonight or one hour getting it done in the morning.
The latter is far more efficient and sustainable—and far less miserable to boot. It’s amazing how fast and seamlessly something can come together when the weather in your mind is sunny and fresh.
Not only is there always more work to do, there is never less work to do. Unless it’s a do-or-die moment for you and your business, it’s better to set yourself up for tomorrow than to die on the hill of today.
Here are a few tactics that help me stay balanced, sane and ready for the long run:
Begin Your Day Seeking Clarity
I wish I had the luxury of a 12-step morning routine, but I don’t. I have small children and lunchboxes and school drop-offs to attend to. Right after that, though, I go to the gym. The flood of positivity and strength that comes from a hard workout can’t be matched. Feeling good about yourself sets you up to feel good about the day.
Press The Reset Button
Aaron Sorkin, who wrote The West Wing, once said that when he gets writer’s block, he takes a shower and changes clothes to effectively start his day over. For me, I do a little yoga or a headstand. Find your own strategy to get a little distance from your work and find your center from which you can be productive.
Know When You’re Running In Place
We all get tapped out, and that’s OK. Know when to call it quits and do something else. Go on a walk, start dinner early, take a drive, whatever. This can be tough to get used to if you’re a push-through person, but give it a try.
I think of that Don Draper quote from Mad Men: “Just think about it. Deeply. Then forget it. And an idea will jump up in your face.”
So, so true.
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