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Hi there! Welcome back to Ambition Unplugged. If you’re new here, you can get caught up by checking out the blog here.
There’s a version of me that wakes up in full get sh*t done mode.
She makes coffee, cleans up the toys, puts laundry away, and knocks out the most important work before lunch. She’s sharp. She’s fast. She makes it look easy.
And then there’s current me.
Current me works in fragments. Needs more pauses than usual. Drifts a little between tasks instead of plowing through them.
For a while, I thought something was wrong with that. I kept trying to get back to her, the productive version, the one who seemed to have it all locked in. But lately I’ve been sitting with a different question: what if the point isn’t to get back to her at all?
What if it’s just time to notice that my rhythm has changed, and meet myself there instead?
We talk a lot about burnout. The emails, the Slack pings, the back-to-back meetings that leave you with no time to actually think. But there’s this other thing that doesn’t get named as often, that strange in-between space where you’re not exhausted but you’re not exactly energized either. You’re just moving at a different tempo.
That’s where I’ve been this spring.
Unplugged Truth
Energy has seasons.
Some are quick and clear, high output, sharp focus, ideas flying. Others are heavier and more interior, slower to start, shorter bursts, thoughts that need more room to develop.
Neither one is the right way to work. But we’ve built this idea that our pace should always stay the same, that if we’re not moving at full speed, something is off. We treat a slower season like a problem to fix instead of a signal worth listening to.
The days where my body feels fine but my focus comes in short waves used to frustrate me. Now I try to take them as information. Not a sign that I’m falling behind. A sign that I need to recalibrate, not accelerate.
That shift is harder than it sounds when everything around you is still moving fast.
Sh*t That Helped
Letting go of “catch up”
I’ve been noticing how often that phrase shows up, in conversations, in my own head, everywhere. “I just need to catch up.” It’s so common it’s almost background noise.
The more I hear it, the more I think it’s code for something else. Usually it means: I’m uncomfortable with where I am right now.
Catch up to what, exactly? The pace that looks impressive? The version of yourself that was running faster? Because that pace isn’t more productive, it’s just more visible.
The pace that’s actually sustainable will always look a little slower than the one that looks impressive. But it’s the one that lets you stay connected to what you’re doing, instead of just sprinting toward relief.
Noticing your real tempo
Summer has this natural pull toward slowing down. School’s out, schedules shift, the days feel longer and a little looser. I stopped fighting it this year and started paying attention to it instead.
Here’s what I’ve been doing: watching my days with less judgment and more curiosity.
When does my focus naturally sharpen?
When does it soften?
What time of day feels easiest for creative work?
When do I crave rest but push through anyway?
You don’t have to measure it or build a system around it. Just notice. Pay attention without trying to fix anything. Your own rhythm starts to reveal itself when you stop overriding it.
For me, summer is the season where I do my best thinking in the morning and my worst forcing in the afternoon. So I stopped scheduling hard creative work after 3pm. Small shifts make a big difference.
Closing Thought
I’m not trying to stay in slow mode forever. I know a faster season is coming, it always does. But I’ve spent a lot of years treating every slow stretch like something to push through instead of something to pay attention to.
This summer, I’m trying something different. I’m letting the tempo be what it is, and seeing what I notice when I stop trying to override it.
What about you? Is there a time of day or a season of the year where your energy naturally shifts, and do you work with it or fight it?
Hit reply. I really want to know.
Until next week,
Dina
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