A few days ago, I was in conversation with Amy Soper who serves as the Director of Volunteer Growth for Women Doing Well (www.womendoingwell.org). Among the many things that has impressed me about Amy and this new organization is their approach to developing their volunteers and their team. Amy mentioned that at the beginning of this year, their President, Julie Wilson shared that their theme for this year is Pace. In other words; their leaders should be looking at their own Pace,helping others with their Pace, and even perhaps occasionally questioning the Pace of the organization and its growth.

Something about the word Pace immediately resonated with me. At a simple or surface level, I tend to think of the word as it applies to running, one of my passions. And in that arena, Pace is simply another way of saying how fast you’re going — or the average speed you were running for a given training run or race. Pacing can also apply to many other areas of life as we pursue personal goals as well as results we want to bring into the world. So, as Amy and I talked, we went a bit deeper.

Since this was actually a coaching conversation, Amy and I were discussing the priorities she was establishing for her new role. In terms of her work, we discussed what activities and relationships could contribute to the Pace of her recruitment and training of volunteers. As we explored, I found myself again paralleling this with running and improving your pace. I say this because I know intuitively, there are things that will help improve your pace. For good measure, a quick google search brought me to an article called 7 Expert Tips to Improve Your Running Pace. If you’re a runner, I encourage you to click on the link. If you’re not, stick with me, as there’s plenty beyond running coming up….

My point in sharing the above is that if you’re like me, there are times you struggle with priorities. You question whether doing more of this or less of that will get you to the results you’re looking to create. This is true whether it’s something as critical as your organization’s mission, a personal goal like writing a book or running a marathon, or perhaps just finding some inner peace and calm. It begs the question of what do you truly need (to do, be, or focus on) and what you can truly leave behind.

For example, to build your pace in running it’s worth focusing on your cadence, arm swing, and posture. You probably don’t need to worry about things like your height (you can’t change that anyway!) or running “harder”. The same goes for delivering on your mission. No doubt having quality programs helps, strong servant leadership can make a huge difference and a sustainable financial position is critical. At the same time, you could spend less time securing the best bagels for your fundraiser, having the snappiest website around, and tweeting once an hour and still have a substantial impact on those you serve. And finally inner peace and tranquility? I’ll leave that to you but suffice to say getting stuck believing you are your thoughts and vice versa probably won’t help.

Like all good articles, you’ve got to have THE BIG TAKEAWAY and here it is. I created an acronym to help you as you work to find the optimum Pace in your world. I truly hope it helps.

P — Priorities; Have you identified what results you want to create and how critical it is that you create them?
A — Actions; Do you have a clear sense of what you need to do to create those results?
C — Clarity around Challenges; Have you identified the obstacles you’ll need to overcome and what you don’t need?
E — Effort and Energy; Are you truly ready to Expend the Effort and Energy?
So, what do you need to find your Pace?
​

After the disappointment and financial failure of Rocky V in 1990, Sylvester Stallone put out a series of well, let’s put it politely, even more disappointing movies. He tried his hand at something like comedy with “Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot”. He then went for something a bit more dramatic with “Oscar”. He did several others before recognizing that his strong suit — and the place where his talents were more appreciated — were playing his signature characters such as Rocky and Rambo as well as other action-oriented roles. In fact, there are numerous less memorable projects he was involved in throughout his career — many more in fact than what he’s best known for. Yet, those are the standout. That is what he’s known for.

What are my credentials as a movie reviewer and why am I sharing the above with you? To the first question, I have no credentials — I’m merely sharing my fan-based opinions. As to the second question, I’m spending a lot of time in my hometown of Philadelphia these days. Philly is one of my favorite cities to run in and today I was doing one of the most inspiring routes that ends up at — you guessed it — the Art Museum and those steps that Rocky ascended so many times. So, my mind was on Stallone and the Rocky movies which I’m not ashamed to say are some of my absolute favorites. Reality based? Who cares! You can’t watch them and not believe that dreams can come true — and more importantly, every one of us has the ability to make our own dreams come true.

And perhaps most important, what’s my point?
After those brief flirtations with other opportunities, Stallone moved back to the zone of action-oriented films. Ultimately, he doubled down on the whole Rocky-thing. He brought him back to the screen in 2006 with the well-received film “Rocky Balboa” even giving the character more depth with a plausible story of a late-in-life comeback (think George Forman). And Rocky was given new life in 2015 with the introduction of the Creed movies with the now elder boxer coaching his former opponent’s son.
​
If you’re tired of the movie stuff, we’re done with that so stick with me. Take away all of the film stuff and what you have is a story that is a great example of recognizing our true nature (though I have a a hunch the actor never studied up on Syd Banks and the Three Ps). Stallone realized that he enjoyed the freedom to try other roles. At the same time, he stopped running away from the type of acting and creative work he seemed to embody that came to him so naturally and with ease.

We can do the same thing. I am all about personal growth and development and especially taking on new challenges. I hope you are too — it’s what keeps life really interesting! If I didn’t like getting a little uncomfortable and helping others stretch, I certainly would be in the wrong line of work as a consultant and coach. But there is a certain beauty and ease to understanding, accepting and even leveraging our truest selves. That’s the self that emerges when we’re doing the work and the creating that comes to us as an extension of ourselves.

How do you know when you’re in that magical zone?
​Here are a couple good markers — or at least what I’ve found to be true for me. You know it when time stops mattering. You’re not rushed and you have plenty of time to do exactly what you’re doing. You know it when there’s no gripping and no tension. You know it when you find people asking you to do more of whatever your thing is (and they’ll probably say something like “hey, that’s your thing!).

​
​The other point to remember is that you’ll certainly know when you are NOT in that zone. Much like that “Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot” moment for Sylvester Stallone, you’ll instinctually feel it when you’re going against your true nature. And it’s great to test those boundaries every so often to see where else we can make a difference. However, if we get that gift of knowing where we make our most impactful contribution and can truly be of service, there’s much to be said for making that our life’s work. I hope you are on the way to finding your inner Rocky.