Slingshot Weekly (2/25/26) | Running Your Own Race, On Your Time

There is a subtle kind of pressure that builds when you begin measuring your life against someone else’s milestones.

You scroll, you listen, you observe, and slowly the narrative shifts. Someone seems further ahead. Someone decided faster. Someone appears more certain, more established, more accomplished. Without realizing it, you start questioning your own timing as if growth were a competition and you somehow missed the starting gun.

Comparison has a way of shrinking perspective. It convinces you that progress is linear, synchronized, and publicly visible. It suggests that if someone else reached a milestone by now, you should have too. But the truth is far more complex and far more freeing. Progress has no universal timeline because lives do not begin from the same starting line. We do not carry the same responsibilities, opportunities, setbacks, resources, or internal battles. Expecting identical pacing ignores the reality of different circumstances.

When you believe you are behind, it is usually because you are comparing your chapter three to someone else’s chapter ten. You are measuring your preparation season against someone else’s payoff season. And that comparison rarely motivates in a healthy way. Instead, it distorts judgment. It pushes rushed decisions. It encourages you to chase optics instead of alignment. It replaces thoughtful design with reactive movement.

Your timing is not broken. Your pace is not a flaw. You are learning at the speed your life requires.

Some paths demand patience before momentum. Some journeys require exploration before commitment. Some seasons are meant for groundwork, for skill building, for strengthening character and conviction long before any visible reward arrives. Foundations rarely receive applause, but they determine what can eventually stand.

The people who sustain success are rarely the ones who sprinted the fastest. They are the ones who built steadily, who made decisions rooted in alignment instead of urgency, and who resisted the temptation to rush simply because others appeared further along. There is power in refusing to abandon your process for the sake of someone else’s timeline.

When you honor your pace, something shifts internally. Pressure softens because you are no longer trying to win a race that was never assigned to you. Confidence strengthens because your decisions become intentional rather than reactive. You begin choosing based on fit and growth instead of fear of falling behind.

Your story is unfolding on its own schedule, shaped by experiences only you are living. The skills you are developing, the lessons you are absorbing, the resilience you are building all matter, even if they are not yet visible to anyone else. You are not off track simply because your milestones look different. The question is not whether you are ahead or behind. The question is whether you are aligned with the direction you are moving. When you focus on that, comparison loses its grip and clarity returns.

You are not late to your own life. You are in the exact stretch of growth that is preparing you for what comes next.

Reflection Questions of the Week:

• Where has comparison influenced a decision I am considering right now?

• What foundations am I building that may not be visible yet but will matter long term?

• If I trusted my pace fully, what pressure would I release today?