Hey friends, Hannah here 😊

First of all - Happy New Year! And what a year it's been. 2025 has held a lot of introspection for me, and it has me thinking about how fast I think versus how fast I act. And so, the topic of today's email came about...

There’s a weird assumption floating around that if you think fast, you should also act fast.

And if you don’t, something must be wrong.

Indecisive. Flaky. Overthinking. Lazy.

A lot of freelancers and entrepreneurs feel this tension immediately. Most of us think fast, see patterns quickly, understand systems, and often have deeper insight than the person asking us to do the work. We're kinda wired that way.

But how we act can look very different, and that’s where things get misunderstood. Thinking speed and action speed are not the same thing. In psychology and neuroscience, processing speed and action initiation are measured separately. You can process information quickly and still choose to delay action. That pause isn’t a failure; it’s executive control, inhibition, and foresight.

This is often described through something called cognitive tempo, which looks at two variables:

How fast you think vs. how fast you act

Those two don’t have to match. Most people tend to have a baseline cognitive tempo they operate from for most everyday decisions. That’s the pace they naturally fall into when the stakes are low or familiar. I'll list the different types shortly.

For many freelancers and entrepreneurs, that baseline looks like: fast thinking and relatively fast action, but, as stakes increase, people don’t stay in their default. They deviate.

Action speed slows when:

• Consequences become harder to reverse
• Responsibility extends beyond the individual
• Trust, money, or reputation are involved

That shift isn’t a breakdown of decisiveness. It’s adaptive regulation.

The Four Common Cognitive Tempos

At a high level, most people cluster around one of these patterns, with situational shifts as stakes rise:

1. Fast thinker - Fast actor
2. Fast thinker - Slow actor
3. Slow thinker - Fast actor
4. Slow thinker - Slow actor

None of these is better or worse; they are just different regulatory styles.

What matters is that high-responsibility work often pulls fast thinkers into fast–slow behavior, especially when other people are affected.

Why This Creates Friction With Clients

This is where things can go sideways for freelancers and VAs. You may have more insight than your client on a particular task - very common. You can see second- and third-order effects that they can’t see yet. Because of that, you slow down.

From the client’s perspective: “Why isn’t this moving yet?”

From your perspective: “If I move at your speed, I’m going to create a mess.”

They get frustrated. You get resentful. And everyone feels misunderstood.

You’re not hesitating because you don’t know what to do. You’re hesitating because you know too much to move casually!

Where I land these days...

Like many freelancers and founders, I have a clear baseline and clear deviations. I tend to oscillate between fast–fast and fast–slow. Fast–fast shows up when the decision is low risk and contained to me. That looks like booking a flight for myself or whipping up a lesson on a topic I’m well-versed in. The thinking is fast, and the action follows immediately because if it doesn’t work, I, and only I, absorb the cost.

Fast–slow shows up when a decision impacts other people, creates expectations or dependencies, or affects partnerships or long-term dynamics.

I still think quickly, but I bank the action. I let ideas sit. I watch timing. I see how they interact with everything else. From the outside, this can look like indecision or flakiness. What it actually is is ten-steps-ahead planning when responsibility is shared.

This is especially true for VAs and service providers. Experienced VAs are often fast–fast with execution, known tasks, or internal improvements.

And they are fast–slow when money is involved, systems affect client operations, or decisions could create downstream disruption.

That pause is not a confidence issue; it’s simply professional judgment. Great VAs don’t just move fast; they protect their clients from unnecessary fallout.

A Sentence You Can Actually Use With Clients

If a client is pushing for speed and doesn’t understand your hesitation, try this:

Clear. Calm. Professional. Not defensive. Not apologetic - important!

A Decision Filter You Can Use

Before committing to anything, try this decision filter

1. Who else is impacted by this decision?
2. How hard would it be to undo?
3. If this goes wrong, who carries the cost?
4. Does this need speed, or does it need thought?

If the cost is shared, slow is often the correct speed.

One last reminder....

You’re not lazy because you’re analyzing impact. You’re not flaky because you’re integrating consequences, and you’re not behind because you’re thinking ahead.

It’s also totally okay to explain your process, most friction disappears when people understand why you’re slowing down.

Let your tempo match the responsibility!

What do you feel, instinctively, is your default tempo? Come share on Instagram with me! Helpful? Hit reply and let me know!

Once again, Happy New Year! 🥳

Hannah