Go Slow

I went to a new gym the other day.

Firstly, I haven't been to a membership-based gym (to actually use the equipment) in many, many years.

My main gym sits two floors below where I sleep, and I am the sole member, so there's no need for me to actually go anywhere else.

The thing about this new gym—that I secretly love—is that it's super old.

It's actually a boxing gym, which happens to have some other equipment.

It's run by one guy. Dan.

On my first day, I showed up early in the morning and waited at the counter to talk to Dan and ask him for a short-term membership.

Dan was a bit pre-occupied running some personal training for two people at once. I am not sure that he expected to sell a membership that day, let alone that early in the morning.

Regardless, I waited.

Once he sorted me out, he basically asked if I had a towel, I didn't, so he let me borrow one and said, "Just put it down on the equipment before you use it."

After this, he went back to his two-at-once personal training session.

I was left to my own devices to figure out a lot of things.

The gym had a few people using it that day. Probably three or four. They clearly knew their way around.

I did not.

For the next hour, I will admit, I felt like a bit of a fool trying to fumble my way through equipment and a half-baked workout.

***

Experiencing something new with no real onboarding and in the presence of others who are already familiar, can be very intimidating.

I'm writing this as a piece of advice to you and I, when we both inevitably find ourselves in this situation again.

The most important thing to keep in mind is this: go slow.

Even if you have some expectations of how things are going to be—I know my way around equipment in a gym—it takes time to orient yourself.

It's likely that you're going to overlook tiny things.

In my case on that first day, I needed a place to get changed. The only room I saw didn't seem to have a light switch, and again Dan was a bit pre-occupied, so I ended up changing close to where I was standing when purchasing my membership.

Had I gone slow and not been in a rush to get changed, I am sure I could have waited for Dan to tell me that the light switch was actually up high behind the door.

When we become very familiar with something, it's the tiny things that become invisible to us.

That's why when you ask someone who has been doing something for a long time to explain to you how they do it, it's often really hard to do.

The tiny things have vanished from their minds.

To observe the tiny things, learn them, and let them grow into big things, we must first go slow.