Getting Off the Wheel

Why running harder won’t get you anywhere worth going.

Some days it feels like we’re all running full speed on a hamster wheel that never stops. Work deadlines, family obligations, the “shoulds” we pile on ourselves. The wheel hums along and we keep going, eyes fixed on some faraway finish line that never actually comes into view.

Guess what, in all that rushing and running, we miss stuff. Not just the big “critical” things (we’d never…), but the small, precious ones. In the moments of satisfaction, however fleeting. A colleague says, “wow, you did it!” and we shrug it off with “oh, it’ll be better next time.” One of those knowing glances in a conference room with a teammate who knows the goal is reachable as long as you’re on the team.

I remember back in my start-up years walking through an office after a marathon day of brainstorming and strategy sessions. One poor guy sat at his desk with glazed eyes, mumbling. I asked why he was still there, and he said, “I have to finish this for tomorrow’s meeting, but there’s a glitch. I need to fix it tonight because I’ll be too tired tomorrow.” (DOH!)
Wow. Been there. Pushing through when it made absolutely no sense. (No more, of course, I’ve grown out of that….mostly.)


Still, this is the mindset so many of us carry. Work until you drop. Break it ‘til you make it. Don’t take a break when you’re stuck, push through!

It’s madness. Get some sleep. Come in early. Don’t work while exhausted. Why do we even need to be told this?

The real mind-shift comes when we recognize the difference between what’s actually important and what’s not. What’s smart, emotionally intelligent, and grounded in reality… versus what’s thoughtless, based on conjecture, or built on expectations that never made sense in the first place.

That’s when the noise falls away, and clarity has room to step in.

Now, some twenty years later, I’m not even close to perfect, but that’s actually not a goal anymore anyway, I’m better. More often present, less often sidelined by noise.

These days I’ll at least stop long enough to check in and ask better questions. Those minutes of clarity help me make smarter decisions based on what’s real, not what I feel I should do based on some arbitrary statement.

Because here’s the thing: satisfaction doesn’t come from doing all the things. It comes from a quiet confidence to choose what matters most and doing that with care to the best of our ability.

So here’s your invitation: slow down the wheel, maybe even step off once in a while. Look around. Notice what’s already good, already here, already enough.
Because that’s YOU.