At the beginning of this month, Liz – a brilliant coach and business owner in my Big Sky Business Collective – came to Sussex for a strategy day with me.
We didn’t start with strategy.
We started with space.
A long walk through the Sussex countryside. Coffee and homemade pastries in the sun. Just talking. No agenda, no pressure, no sense that we needed to rush into anything “useful”.
Just time to arrive.
And something interesting happened because of that.
The discomfort of slowing down
A couple of hours in, Liz noticed herself getting impatient.
That familiar internal voice: “Surely we should be further along by now?”
And I think most of us know that feeling.
That slight discomfort when things aren’t moving quickly. When we’re not producing, achieving, ticking boxes, or visibly making progress.
We’re so conditioned to equate speed with success that slowing down can feel wrong — or even unproductive.
But what happened next was where things got interesting.
What happens when we actually slow down
As Liz reflected afterwards, she realised just how conditioned she had become to constant output. To momentum for the sake of momentum.
So much so that when things slowed, it didn’t initially feel restful.
It felt unfamiliar. Even inefficient.
And yet, as the day unfolded, something shifted.
When we moved into deeper strategy and mindset work later on, there was a different quality to the conversation. More clarity. More honesty. Less noise.
Things landed in a way they simply don’t when everything is rushed.
Because space changes how we think.
It creates room for insight to surface rather than being forced.
The quiet moments that actually move things forward
I notice this in my own life too.
A slow bike ride along Brighton seafront on my way to the office. A walk with the dogs first thing in the morning. Swimming, yoga, sauna, time outside whenever I can fit it in.
And yes — even in those moments, there’s sometimes a flicker of guilt.
That subtle voice saying: shouldn’t I be doing more?
But more and more, I’ve come to see something important:
Those quieter moments aren’t a break from the work.
They are part of the work.
They’re where ideas land. Where perspective shifts. Where decisions quietly settle in a way that feels certain rather than forced.
They’re where the noise drops away enough for you to actually hear yourself think.
And more often than not, they’re where the best decisions come from.
Rest isn’t something you earn
This is something I keep coming back to.
Wellbeing, rest, and adventure aren’t rewards for being productive.
They’re not something you “deserve” after you’ve done enough.
They’re part of what allows you to do your best work in the first place.
Not separate from success — but supportive of it.
A mid-month reminder
So if you’re in the middle of a full, busy stretch right now, here’s something worth remembering:
You do not need to earn rest.
You do not need to constantly prove your productivity.
And creating space is not the same as falling behind.
It might actually be the thing that moves you forward most.
I’d love to know — where do you currently create space in your life?
