Honor your pace in life (and business)

I used to have a lot of judgements around my pacing. I tend to process things a little slower. Sure, I can be impulsive with smaller decisions, but when it comes to the pacing of my life, I find myself needing more slowness and room to let things sink in and settle. I ponder more. I like when I don't have a super tight upcoming deadlines all the time.

This used to bother me because I was constantly faced with rush requests from clients and fellow brand designers that had inconceivably quick turnarounds. There are designers I know of that would do a full brand design (discovery, brief, logo design, color & typography, collateral items, etc) and a full website in 2 weeks! I tried to do that and it was a complete disaster. I don't work that fast. And you know what? That's ok.

I'm not being too slow, I'm not a bad designer, but I am very meticulous and I like to think of what growth for a brand might look like, not just what works now. I like to delve deeper into the brand story, what makes them unique and how to really get to know their ideal client so they know how to attract more of them.

This of course is not me throwing shade at anyone who is able to do great work very quickly. Kuddos to them, right?

There is a time and place for every pace.

What I came to realize, is that there is a sort of scarcity fear that if you're not doing what and how everyone else is doing things, there won't be a piece of the proverbial pie left over for you. But maybe your people want cake! 😉

There was a disconnect in my thinking. I assumed every client wants everything NOW NOW NOW. And maybe so at first. But I find when we get into this really in-depth work, it's good to have some breathing room to let ideas settle. We're branding your business and crafting your message after all and while that is never necessarily something that is cast in stone forever, we want to be intentional about it.

A slower pace also allows me to immerse myself with the brand. To let it marinate and really consider it from various angles. To help my clients get a little extra clarity on things that perhaps they couldn't verbalize before.

The truth is, we just need to learn to attract people whose pace matches our own. So that we can both feel like the process is going seamlessly and in a way that feels in alignment with how we want to move through the world. So that we're not feeling rushed.

What's your pace these days my love? You have all the time you need. You just need to claim it.