Have you heard of the penguin method? I learnt about the penguin method when I started back into running after knee surgery. I was advised to train like a penguin i.e. walk for 10 minutes then run for 2 minutes. It is a bit like doing interval training go fast, go slow, go fast, go slow or go up a hill, go downhill, go up hill, go downhill etc.

Change is also a bit like a penguin. It can suddenly go really fast, everyone working frantically, and then it slows while the impact of the change settles.

This concept can be applied to the way you work towards changing something in your life. The thought of change can bumble along in the back of your mind, and then suddenly, you want the change to happen, and you work frantically at whatever it is you need to do for the change to happen. Then things will slow down either because you have reached your goal or you have run out of energy or you have got to focus on something else. But worry not, because after this slow pace, the speed will pick up again.

When you set yourself a target, take into considerate The Penguin. Working flat out will exhaust you, potentially lead to burn out, result in you possibly missing some other key event. Going too slow may mean you never achieve your goal, that job is taken by someone else, the run date has come and gone.

Plan your path of change as a journey of variable speed allocating the required time appropriate to all the different elements, allowing for slow times and rapid activity. Also plan different activities. A penguin waddles, swims, dives, slides to get to its destination. You can do the same. For a promotion or career change you can get a new qualification, learn a new skill, get a mentor.

Ask yourself:

• Are you going to be a penguin and get to your desires goal in the best possible way and speed?
• Are you going to look after yourself and vary the pace of change?
• What are you going to do next?

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