Slow Down to Speed Up

If you're like me, you love making the most of every minute and, as such, are eager to jump straight to business. While some colleagues may appreciate this efficiency, it can unintentionally create distance with others.

In this short video, I share a heartwarming story about a little boy in my Sunday school class who taught me an important lesson about slowing down to connect before diving into work. We could all benefit from being a little more like him...

• Read the video transcript

  I get to do a lot of training and teaching in my job, and I will tell you there is one audience that is harder to captivate than any of the others, and it is not one of my clients.

  It is the pre-K class at my church on Sunday mornings. So my oldest daughter and I get to serve with the four-year-olds every other Sunday. And it is just, as you would imagine, both chaos and a huge blessing all at the same time.

  Well, most of the four-year-olds in that class just call me teacher, which is totally fine. But there's this one little boy who early on was very intentional to ask me my name. And ever since then, he intentionally uses my name every Sunday when he comes in.

  And it is the most precious thing. And I just, I feel, I feel like known and cared for by this little 4-year-old because he wants to use my name and actually genuinely connect with me.

  And so my challenge for you this week is to not be that person that comes into the meeting and jumps straight into business, but instead to slow down and truly see people, connect with them, at least take 30 seconds to genuinely ask them how they're doing before getting down to business. Because when we do that, when people actually feel seen and known and cared for by us before we get down to business, I promise that business meeting will be so much more productive in the end. So slow down, be like this little boy, know people's names and get to know them on a more personal level.