“Loosen the reins up, don’t hold her so tight!” yells my instructor across the arena.  “You are absolutely nuts, ” the frustrated voice in my head yells back.

It takes more than a leap of faith to loosen the grip on the fantastically energetic quarter horse as I am watching the fence posts clip by at such a pace that they seem to become a solid wall of white.  “She’ll only take off faster if I let go!” but I do as instructed and … bingo:  she speeds up.

“Isn’t this nice? Will I regain control of her speed, or will I have to just stop?” my inner voice sounds like an angry teenager.

Again, I follow the shouted instructions to reconnect with her using a gentler, more consistent feel.  Hey, it took a bit of practice, but I got it! Now this beautiful mare and I can have a much more enjoyable, and speed appropriate ride usually!  Every so often, I have to remind myself to let go, and be gentle, have faith and things will go smoothly.

Funny thing is, I discovered that I often behave in a similar way with my business, or anything new that I am trying to master for that matter.  I frustrate myself, because I need to have complete control over what-ever-it-is and I keep holding on until I exhaust myself!  Sometimes, like when I am striving to accomplish as much as I can for my businessI have had to be stopped by exhaustion, or illness at the worst circumstance, because I would not loosen the reins on my need to control it all.

I know I am not the only one who does this!  I have clients that I have told to go home and rest, because I can see that they were driving themselves to the breaking point trying to do it all, and I sure did not want to see them fall ill, and lose the momentum that we were working with.

Whatever it might be that you are learning to master, be it business, marketing, or mountain-biking; loosen the reins every once in a while.  Take a break.  Enjoy the heck out of that break and then gently head back to the task at hand.  Have faith that the path to mastery will continue to unfold, and the ride can be quite enjoyable if you allow it!