Pace is Everything
Or is it time, expressed in pace?
Treat everything you do like an egg that will break if you treat it carelessly. That’s the highest kind of life. That’s Zoe.
— Abiola Okun
You see, this month, I have been learning about a subject matter that spans across every area of life, more than anything else. It is specific, yet broad. It is exact, yet evident in different aspects than meets the eye. This subject matter is pace. Or you could even say it is time, expressed in pace.
Courtesy of the Readers’ Community I belong to, Emprinte Readers Hub, I am currently reading The Art of Public Speaking, and one of the chapters that bore its light to me was the chapter about Pace, where the author talked about pacing yourself when you are speaking in public, it’ll help you concentrate more, both on the audience, on your subject, and your manner of delivery. The author implores that you should not speak like you have a hot potato in your mouth, like you’re rushing to get somewhere, or you’re trying not to waste anyone’s time, because God forbid, what you say is hogwash.
That, in itself, is enough education for a lifetime, but this newsletter isn’t about pace in public speaking. Please follow me.
Somehow, dear reader, the universe has been subtly putting lessons about pace in my life. I have been getting express instructions about pace from other books I have recently read, from podcasts I have recently listened to, from movies I have recently seen, and even from people I have met in recent times.
I thought, maybe if I put all that I have learned in writing, perhaps even in a newsletter to you, I will assimilate it a little more, further apply it, and even share the knowledge with you so we can grow together.
Pace matters in everything you do; in speaking, as learned from Dale Carnegie’s classic, in movement, in living, in breathing, in conversations, in actions and reactions, in everything. Pace represents quality; the longer something takes, the more phenomenal that thing is — except on rare occasions where you pace yourself to say rubbish, rubbish is still the same thing that will come out.
When you step out on the street and see a man who’s rushing and hurrying to get to work, what impression of that man do you form? Certainly not that he cares about what he’s rushing to, but that he’s not in control of his time anymore. I would think he probably woke up late, and now he’s running late for the bus. One thing is certain: he has lost control.
Pace represents control. When you pace yourself, slow down while the world is rushing, it means you have planned yourself in such a way that you have enough time to get to where you need to be. It shows you’re in control of yourself and everything in your reach. You would never see CEOs rushing to a meeting they set. Your pace gives your position away. Are you the one who sets the table, or the one who simply comes to meet any table that’s been set? The one who sets the table never rushes. Pace is control.
In a conversation with friends, who do you appreciate more? The guy who starts responding to you before you even finish talking? Or the guy who pauses to think about everything you have said before he starts responding? The former was clearly waiting to respond, while the latter, in fact, was listening, and his response will be more calculated, more concentrated, more valuable. Pace represents concentration.
When you give yourself space between speech and response, you come off as one who has fully concentrated and given it a thought. It means you are in control of your response, you have ruminated over the delivery, and it aids the quality of response you want to give next.
The same applies to actions and reactions. Nobody doubts Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Not to take anything away from the man, but I believe it was obvious even long before Sir Isaac was conceived. Of course, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction..., however! The space between action and reaction is what determines whether you’re in control or not. Better put, the pace between an action and your reaction is everything!
Regardless, don’t take only my word for it! Take the words of Viktor Frankl, the legend who wrote ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’. He put it perfectly when he said, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Pace is credibility. It makes you sound like an authority. When you rush through a delivery, you communicate many things to the audience, all of which will not help your cause. You sound like a phony who is hoping he doesn’t get caught if he breezes through his delivery. You sound like you know what you are saying will waste the time of everyone who’s listening, so you’d better get on with it and rush through it so everyone can go on to do the more important things they have to do. That does a disservice to your gospel! It shoots down not only your credibility, but also your confidence!
In fact, confidence is often one of the gifts wrapped in the box of Pace. Without the box, you don’t access the gift. Oh yes, behind the door of Pace lies the gift of confidence.
Confidence is often one of the gifts wrapped in the box of pace. Behind the door of Pace lies the gift of confidence.
Beyond all that I have said, everything in life is action and reaction, whether it’s speaking in front of people, or it’s attending to a matter, or responding, or trying to get to work, or trying to solve a problem, or nursing a broken heart. Everything is action and reaction.
Give yourself the gift of time, of pace, of control. As much as it lies to you, never put yourself in positions where you have to rush or hurry through anything, because when you hurry, you run the risk of overlooking essential things that will strengthen the quality of whatever you’re doing.
Don’t sacrifice quality at the altar of speed. Don’t sacrifice control at the altar of haste. Pace yourself. Intentionally. Go from 1.5x to 1.0x. Treat everything you do like an egg that will break if you treat it carelessly. That’s the highest kind of life. That’s Zoe; the God-kind of life.
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
I believe the whole newsletter has been summed up in that sentence by Viktor Frankl. If you give your pace away, you give your control away, you give your concentration away, you give your credibility away, you give your confidence away, and by implication, you give your quality and your goals away.
I hope you remember this the next time you have to act on anything. I missed writing to you. Graduate school is harder than I thought it would be.
To Your Growth,
Your Coach,
Abiola Okunsanya,
Handzinspired. 🍃
Thank you! 👏🏾💯