Want to Lead Better? Be More Like a Cat.

It was January 2023. I felt a nudge to slow down. I ignored it.

While I love the idea of a slower, more intentional pace—I’m a fan of the slow food movement, after all, but there was too much to do. Too many things to do. Too many projects to advance.

In hindsight, that was a mistake.

Slowing down wasn’t a luxury—it was exactly what I needed. It would have created space to navigate the unexpected, to respond rather than react. Instead, I powered through, juggling unplanned personal challenges while trying (and sometimes failing) to keep up my professional commitments. Because that’s what high-performing, impact-driven people do, right?

Wrong.

The Leadership Lie: "Just Keep Pushing"

This January, for many, the call to slow down hasn’t been a nudge, it's been a necessity. Our minds, bodies, and souls have been demanding it. And, for once, more of us have been listening.

Pushing through when it’s not the right time isn’t resilience—it’s reckless. It drains us. It dulls our instincts and narrows our perspective. It makes us work harder for limited results.

We forget that life, leadership, and impact have rhythms. Nature operates in cycles. Athletes train in cycles. Even the most innovative minds take space to pause, process, and recalibrate.

Yet leaders often believe they should operate at full speed, all of the time.

That’s not high performance. That’s burnout on a time delay.

The Best Leaders Know When to Slow Down

Slowing down isn’t about doing less. It’s about:

? Moving with precision instead of mindless momentum.

? Creating space for perspective and insight rather than forcing solutions.

? Pacing yourself and your team for long-term impact, not just short-term metrics.

When we honour the natural cycles in ourselves, our work and our world, we don’t lose momentum—we gain clarity and alignment with life's evolutionary flows. We hear what we might otherwise miss. We see opportunities we’d have run past obliviously. We create space for wisdom, insight and inspiration to drop in.

That’s exactly what happened to me this month. Despite having a lot on, I slowed down. The result? New insights. Some useful prompts. And a new, inspiring mission to work towards. All because I paused long enough to hear what was ready to land.

Pacing is a Leadership Skill

Want to see this in action? Watch a cat. They spend most of their time resting in a state of quiet alertness—fully present, yet always ready to respond.

That’s the kind of presence leadership requires.

So, here’s my challenge for you: What is life, your body, or your work telling you right now? Are you ignoring it—or listening?