Slow Down to Level Up (English)

How inner calm makes you a clearer thinker, a better leader, and a more creative human

I’ve been speaking with a high-performing coaching client of mine about “slowing down” for the past couple of weeks.

When we talk about it, I can tell he wants it … he really wants it. He sinks into the words, into the thought of it, and his whole being relaxes for a few precious seconds.

Then, suddenly, his demeanor changes, and his face becomes serious again. And I hear him say, “But there’s a lot to do before the turn of the year. We’re in a critical time here at the office. It’s overwhelming.”

Snap, the internal door closes on “slowing down” … as if it’s a nice idea for some people, but an impossibility for him and his team.

Look at the facts, coach lady, there’s this, this, and all this to do … and it should have been done yesterday. That’s the way of this business.

I look at him and feel so much love and compassion for him, and how he’s thinking … all sped up inside, urgency oozing out of every pore.

But that’s just the surface, and so I look deeper … to who he really is, and to what really on offer for him.

I imagine a future where we reminisce about this day and laugh, a relieved chuckle that things have changed so dramatically since then. I see him at peace, slowed down … calm, clear, and creative.

How can I be so sure we’ll reach that point?
Easy, I’ve been there myself.

I know what it’s like to have a racing mind, steeped in pressure and haste, believing everything has priority and that my entire well-being depends on figuring it out and getting it done.

Running through my urgent tasks and to-dos on high alert was my favorite habit of thought for years.

The problem was, I didn’t even know where I was running to.

Once someone asked me, and I actually said, “I don’t know, maybe to the grave.” It’s funny to think about now. Back then, I was appalled at what had come out of my mouth.

But, it all looked so real, thought brought to life by consciousness.

Something inside me … a constant, loud, unwavering voice … was driving me like a machine, demanding constant productivity, and showing little empathy for my personal limits or well-being.

Like an inner tyrant, it used fear, comparison, and guilt to enforce work and keep me running. The result was stress and overwhelm.

One day, I spoke with my own coach about it.

She seemed so chill … and I figured she didn’t have that little bully in her head. I wanted to find out if I could get rid of mine … if there were something I could actively do to “slow down.”

She seemed unconcerned, and so very clear that I was already on my way out of this problem that had been plaguing me for so long … like it was just a matter of time, and my job was to be patient.

She saw me as healthy, whole, and perfectly capable of a quiet mind. I could really feel it as she listened to me go on and on:

Look at the facts, coach lady, there’s this, this, and all this to do … and it should have been done yesterday. That’s the way of this business.

And as she remained unfazed by all that noise in my head that was spewing in her direction, something deeper in me woke up and flipped a switch.

In that very second, unbeknownst to me, my mind started to settle down a bit. And like a domino where you flick one and the others fall over one by one, the rest of me began to surrender to a slower pace … to peace of mind.

At some point, I couldn’t take my inner task master seriously. It was just a thought storm I could ignore. I was no longer anyone’s slave.

I was free.

I was finally free to let my mind and my life slow down, something I had ached for for so long.

Back then, my number one fear was that if I eased the pace, I’d end up a marshmallow on a couch, eating spicy Cheetos, and only taking a bath once a week.

I thought, without the inner enforcer, I’d fall into financial ruin or lose my reputation as a highly successful coach.

None of that happened, but even if it had, I would have been deeply OK and able to navigate my new circumstances.

But it turns out that the side effect of inner peace is getting to create your life from CLARITY and WISDOM … instead of doing it from fear and urgency.

It feels much better to “slow down” than race through life, and people like being in my presence and working with me so much more.

And here’s the thing I wish someone had told me twenty years ago.

In martial arts, they say the calmest person in the room is the most powerful.

Not because they move slowly. Not because they lack ambition. But because their clarity lets them see what others miss.

A quiet mind reacts less and perceives more.

It chooses carefully instead of panicking.

It creates potently instead of reacting and compensating.

It leads instead of chasing.

That’s the part high-achievers almost never see coming.

Inner calm doesn’t make you soft.

It makes you effective.

It gives you access to the wisdom, creativity, and grounded power that urgency has been drowning out for years.

When your mind slows down, your life doesn’t fall apart. It comes together.

And from that place … quiet, centered, deeply alive … you become the person others naturally trust, follow, and feel safe around.

You become the person who sees opportunities sooner.

The person who gets more done with less force.

The person whose presence changes the temperature of a room.

Slowing down isn’t the end of your high performance.

It’s the beginning of a different kind of power.

Before I close, a heartfelt thank you to Michaela Thiede for inviting me into her wonderful Blogparade “Kleiner Schritt – Große Wirkung.”

This reflection is my contribution … a small step, perhaps, but one that has created a profound shift in my own life, and in the lives of so many of the people I work with.

Thank you, Michaela, for opening the space for these conversations.

And thank you, dear reader, for walking this little step with me today.

Sometimes it really is the smallest shift, a single quiet moment inside, that changes everything.

Much love,

Shailia

P.S.

Here you can learn more about Michaela’s blog parade and explore the other contributions:

https://www.michaela-thiede.de/blogparade-kleiner-schritt-grosse-wirkung/