What if I told you that being first is actually the easiest way to lose? Every week, high performers burn out. They're trying to outrun the clock, they're trying to be better than the next person. When the real winners, they're not rushing. They're timing their moves, they're being strategic. And you know what? As I'm thinking about this, after talking about the early bird catching the worm, I don't want you leaving here sitting and thinking, okay, Juanita, so what am I supposed to do? Move fast, move slow, be the turtle, be the hare, watch the mouse, protect the worm. No, today we're breaking down five tactical frameworks that is going to help you stop rushing and help you start winning. Because at some point, we got to get practical. Timing is a skill. And I don't think we talk about this enough. We talk about discipline and consistency and execution, but you cannot execute the right thing at the wrong time. And then you're creating a mess that you don't need. You might launch too early, you might speak too early, invest too early, you may be hiring people too early, using automation too early, or you can wait too long for the perfect decision and the opportunity passes you by. Neither one of those is a strategy. So I want to give you five tactical frameworks, and you're going to be able to use at least one of these because the goal isn't to become slower. The goal is to get better at knowing when to move. So if you listen to Monday's episode, The Early Bird Catches the Worm, you know that I challenge this whole idea of being first automatically meaning that you are ahead. Sometimes it does mean that. Sometimes the early bird absolutely gets the worm. But then sometimes the second mouse gets the cheese. And that's business. That is what leadership looks like. That is what life looks like. Sometimes you need to move. Sometimes you need to watch. And sometimes you need to sit yourself down somewhere before you make an expensive decision that's going to cost you a lot. Don't make decisions because you're scared somebody else is going to beat you to it. I've done all three. And honestly, I've learned that some of my worst decisions, they were not because I didn't know enough. I rushed through it. I got so excited. I saw where something could go. I saw the finish line, and I immediately wanted to move. And then as soon as I got halfway through it, I realized, wait a minute, did I actually think this through first? That's what I want to help you eliminate. That's why we're talking about this today. Not ambition or speed. We're talking about unnecessary mistakes. Somebody has to tell you. Why not me? So I told you about watching the real life tortoise in the hair race on Facebook. You remember that? And the part that stayed with me was not that the tortoise was slow. It was that the rabbit had everything it needed to win. And it still could not stay focused. It took off, it stopped, it looked around, it moved around, it moved a little bit, it stopped again. And then when you look over at the tortoise, he's still moving. And I was honest with you, and I told you that I was the hair once before. I've jumped on something because I could see the potential. Then another idea came up and then something changed. Then I was on to that. Then I start looking around. Then I start questioning my direction. And then I'm adjusting things and don't need adjusting. All of that movement can make you feel productive. And that's where it gets a little scary. It gets a little dangerous because you can be exhausted and still not be any closer to the finish line. So how I overcame that was I started looking differently at timing. Instead of asking how quickly can I get this done, I started asking, what does this need for me right now? That's a whole different question. So I want to shift a little bit. Stop treating every opportunity like an emergency. There's this saying that I normally say, and it's like, your urgency is not my emergency. So everything that you see or every task that you think that you have to complete, it is not an emergency. Everything doesn't require an immediate yes. It doesn't require an immediate no. Sometimes you just need to sit and think about it. You don't have to launch everything in one week. You don't need six months of research either for those of you who are talking about the people who are moving quick. You don't have to sit on an idea for a whole year before you get started. What you need is a way to determine what kind of timing the situation requires. And that's what we're breaking down in these five frameworks or these five steps. Because I want you to think about this from a leadership perspective. Good decision making isn't just about choosing the right thing. It's choosing the right thing at the right time with enough information so that you can execute well. That is what a good leader does. That's performance. When you think about it, rushing, it creates what? More work. You gotta redo things. That timing, what does that do? Waste money? Premature launches, that can damage your credibility, especially if you're not ready. And waiting too long, that can cost you opportunity. So we're not trying to become slow. We're trying to become intentional. And as you're we're talking about this and I'm going through these things, I want you to write them down. I don't want this to become another episode where you're like, oh, that was a good episode. And then Wednesday turns into Thursday, and then nothing changes. I want you to use these against something that you're actually deciding right now. If you're launching, you got a new idea, a new tool, you're going back to school for something, a partnership, whatever it is, something that you've been sitting on that you put down and you know that you need to pick it back up, run that decision through these fame frameworks that I'm about to give you. So the first one, the audit. You have to map your peak energy windows. Okay. This is where I want you to stop letting somebody else's routine make you feel unproductive. If you are at your best at 10 o'clock in the morning, why are you spending 10 o'clock answering emails? That is what I call premium real estate. You're giving your best hours to somebody else's inbox. Meanwhile, the work that actually requires you to think that gets pushed to the part of the day when you feel exhausted. So for no, so no. For two days, every two hours, I need you to rate yourself one through five. One, I don't want anybody asking me to take to make a decision right now. Five, I'm sharp, I'm focused, give me the hard stuff. And at the end of those two days, look for the pattern. That is gonna be your data. Then I want you to protect your strongest window for something that actually requires your brain. Strategy, writing, creating, decision making, revenue producing work. Don't waste your five on a one-level task. Number two, redefining early. Think about it like this preparation over sunrise. This one matters because we've turned waking up into some kind of success badge. Everybody don't need to get up at 5 a.m. What good is getting up at 5 if you spend from 5 to 7 figuring out what you're supposed to be doing? What do you want, a cookie? Congratulations. I mean, you got up early. Preparation is the advantage though. Before you finish your day determines tomorrow's priority. So what needs to happen first? What information do you need? What documents need to be open? What materials do you need to research or purchase or have ready? So when your execution window starts, you start. That is what early looks like. It's not about waking up before the world. It's about being prepared. And I want to remind you that you were already ready before this moment even arrived. Number three. The second mouse protocol. Say fast follow. This is probably gonna bother many of you. Because you might think that you always have to be first and you don't have to be. Sometimes first is very expensive. First gets the bugs, and I'm not talking about the bugs that'll be crawling around. If you know how computers work, there's glitches and things that they break. First gets the customers' complaints. First discovers that this beautiful idea that you spent forever thinking about works. Not the way that you expected it to work in the real world, but it works. I mean, look at AI. Every week there is another tool. Am I telling the truth or am I telling the truth? The internet acts crazy. Like the tool that we've all been using for the last six months is dead. Like it's old news. We on to something new. Everybody's believing the hype nowadays. Calm down. You don't have to rebuild your entire operation before tomorrow or every Tuesday or every Monday. You gotta watch what are people actually saying. I've learned so much by not being in a rush to jump onto the next AI tool. After a while, people start telling you the truth of what is taking place. Like, oh, with this tool, it doesn't really give you the flexibility for X, Y, and Z. Oh, well, this tool doesn't really follow directions well. Like, you won't know all of that if you're the first one to try it. You gotta know what's breaking, what's useful, what's hype. What problem does this solve that your current system doesn't solve? That's what you're looking for. And it most importantly has to make sense in what you're actually doing. I gotta use myself as an example. I'm telling on myself right now. I dunno when AI first came out, I brought so many subscriptions for all kinds of AI that I ain't even pick up and use after a while. Like, why am I buying an AI that produces movies and scenes and stuff like that when I'm not even putting up no videos yet? It doesn't make sense for my business model right now. And if that makes sense to you, move with more information. Don't be like the person who jumped in because they were too afraid of being left behind. And that's a whole nother story because eventually, if you don't get on the bandwagon, if you don't do your due diligence and understand how this AI could benefit you and your business and your life or whatever the case may be, you will get left behind eventually. But right now, it is time for you to honker down and focus on what AI can do for you. Be smart and strategic about it. Number four is the worm test. You gotta take an exposure, a risk assessment. Everything that you're building does not need to be on social media. It took me a long time to learn this, okay? I am not lying to you. What I've learned is that it is important to focus and keep quiet when you are working on something special. You cannot broadcast it to the world before you do it yourself and master it. You have to be quiet. Test it quietly, fix it quietly, because once you expose something publicly, the expectations are going to change. Not only are the expectations gonna change, but what if you expose something so early, you don't have everything that you need to make it work, but then somebody else does and they see your idea, they see what you put together, they see your framework, and you ain't doing nothing with it. So then they go and they run with it. Guess what's gonna happen? It's gonna work for them. You already did the legwork. You put it on social media, your customers will see it. If it's not ready, that's bad for business. Your competitors can see it, partners can see it, your reputation is attached to it. That reminds me of people jumping on the AIs that answer phones and sends emails to other people, right? And what happened was they just plugged in the AI, told the AI to send out emails, didn't test it, didn't vet it, didn't make sure that it was working, just put it out there, signed up, paid for the subscription, started sending emails. And guess what was happening? That AI went rogue on that person. When I say you went rogue, it went rogue. I mean, it changed the whole script. It's like, I'm not sending these emails the way you said it. I'm gonna do it the way I think it's supposed to be done. So you see what I mean by that? You gotta run the worm test. You have to make sure that you do a risk assessment. Then when you do that, you gotta ask yourself, is this an advantage to people knowing this right now? Do they need to know that this is that I'm cooking this in the kitchen? Is this ready for outside feedback? I have another story about that. One of my clients who was complaining about people leaving feedback on Google. Even though it was a four-star, she was really upset about that. So, is it ready for outside feedback? Can somebody easily copy this before you even establish your position? You need to know that for a fact. I just keep quiet. Just keep quiet. If I don't tell you nothing else that you could take away, which I know that is a lie, just keep quiet. If public exposure is gonna help you validate the idea, then move on it, right? If public exposure creates an unnecessary risk for you, be quiet. You don't owe everybody a behind the scenes look. And I know that that is a part of one of the social media rules to show everybody behind the scenes, but you can't tell everybody what God gave you to build. Sometimes you have to see it through, and when it's ready, then you broadcast it. And the last one, now this one, I like it. I love it. It's the 24-hour rule. And this rule is for high stake moves, right? Now, I'm specifically talking about high stake decisions. It's not telling you to spend 24 hours to think, oh, should I send this email? Oh no, maybe I shouldn't, or maybe I should. Send the email. You don't have to wait 24 hours for that. What I'm talking about is different. I'm talking about decisions involving significant money. I had someone that I was working with before and I invested in before reach out to me with this new thing that they came up with. And it sounded great. I was interested, but then I was like, okay, well, how much is this going to cost me? And when they gave me the number, and I'm thinking to myself, well, like, I'm kind of I'm working on a project right now for myself. I really don't cannot deviate to something else just because somebody else came up with it. I love supporting my people. When I say my people, I mean my friends, my network, people who are doing something great in their life. I love supporting their missions. But then I have to actually make an executive decision to slow down and not make quick decisions on things that require me to either be present or me to have to pay for something. Contracts, partnerships, major investments, launching something that affects my reputation, changing a business system. I have to slow down when it comes to those types of decisions. Those are the type of decisions that you need to spend time with. Don't quickly just say yes or don't quickly say no. When you start feeling like, oh, I gotta do this right now, I'm gonna miss out. I gotta do it. You know how they they they market and they say, uh, seats are filling up fast. Okay, well, if it's for me, I will get it. It'll still be there tomorrow. And when you think about it, when you wait that 24 hours and you come back the next day, you you can ask yourself, okay, what changed? Half of the time when I do this, my whole feelings changed. Like I took that same situation that I explained to you a few minutes ago. I waited 72 hours and thought about it because it was the weekend, so they were closed anyway. So I waited 72 hours. I was like, okay, let me get back to you. Let me think about this. I thought about it overnight. And then the next day I was like, hmm, okay, well, let me go ahead and do it. But then I was like, I still don't feel right about it. I feel like I'm being rushed. So then I paused and I took the rest of those that weekend. And then when Monday came and it was time for whatever it is that they was promoting to start, I decided not to do it. And what changed was I thought about it and I said, I gotta focus on the mission that I have in front of me right now. I love the support, maybe in a different way, but I can't sign up for another course or another training or anything until I execute on what I'm already have in front of me. And then another thing that I noticed is that the opportunity, the adrenaline was gone. I didn't have that same, oh, I gotta do this right now because Monday's the day and it's it's Friday. I didn't have that same adrenaline. I looked at the downside, what information that I was missing, what questions that I have. And if they couldn't answer those questions, I definitely made my decision quit. Then I really had to be serious though. I want you to be serious too and ask yourself, do you want this because it fits where you're going and where you are right now? Or is it because somebody else is doing it? That last question is going to save you so much money because FOMO has a bill. Okay, I hear you. You're like, what is FOMO? Fear of missing out. And sometimes that can be very expensive. Now let's make this usable. Let's bring this all together so you're not like, okay, you gave me a lot of information. Where do I start? When you are facing an opportunity, write down these three categories. Move, watch, and wait. Move when you're prepared. Move when the opportunity is time sensitive, and waiting creates a risk. Watch when the opportunity has potential. And if there's something that you need more information on, or you gotta observe because you want to see what the market is doing first, that's when you want to just watch. And lastly, wait. If you're emotional, you're unprepared, you're unclear, or you're moving because you're scared, somebody else is gonna get this or the time is gonna run out. Wait. And that's it. Move, watch, and wait. And don't forget to run your two-day energy audit. If you miss that part, rewind it back to the beginning because I mentioned a few things about your energy window. Remember, speed is not your enemy. I want that to be very clear to you that speed is not your enemy. Sometimes you have to run, sometimes the doors open and you gotta move. But maturity is learning that everything doesn't require the same pace. That's something that I've learned. That's something that I told you about. I don't have to chase everything that's moving. And I definitely don't need to rush into something just because somebody said, do it. I have to know where I'm going. I gotta know what I'm capable of. I have to recognize when I am ready. And then I need to execute. Speed is what's gonna give you momentum. And your timing, that's gonna give you longevity. And that's what connecting the dots between who you are and how you move looks like. So I don't want you to just write this stuff down and then turn the page and forget about it. I don't want you to just think overwhelmingly like this is too much for you right now. Use one of these today. If you're making a decision, put it through those three categories. I do need something from you though. I want to hear from you. And I want you to tell me which category that you are in right now. Are you in the move category, the watch category, or the wait category? Drop your comments in the comment section. Send this episode to somebody who's always rushing. You know they're rushing because they think somebody else is about to be ahead of them. And after that, you better get your butt back to work. You don't need to win the morning. You don't need to win the announcement. You don't even need to be first. What you need to do is be ready when it is time to move.