Rhythm and Rest
The leaders of tomorrow won’t be the fastest— but the most attuned.
dear friend,
We’ve been taught to lead by accelerating.
By showing up constantly.
By “pushing through” when we’re tired.
By proving we’re the last to leave,
the first to wake,
and the ones who never slow down.
But the deeper I go into this work—
into building from care,
into leading from belonging—
the clearer it becomes:
Speed isn’t the future.
Attunement is.
There is a wisdom in rhythm.
A knowing in the pause.
A kind of leadership that doesn’t come from doing more—
but from knowing when to stop.
When to listen.
When to rest.
Nature doesn’t bloom all year.
The sun rises and falls.
Even the tides come in and go out.
We’ve just forgotten we’re part of that rhythm, too.
And when we forget, we burn out.
We mistake urgency for importance.
We think rest is a weakness,
when it’s really a skill—
a kind of deep intelligence
that most systems have tried to erase.
But here’s the truth I’m holding now:
If we want to lead in ways that last,
we have to lead in ways that breathe.
To know when to pull back.
When to protect the soil.
When to give the people around us space to become.
To trust that not everything grows faster with more effort.
Some things—
especially the most alive things—
only grow with time.
And attention.
And rest.
I’ve been learning to practice this in my own work.
To not reply right away.
To leave room in the day.
To not panic when things slow down—
but ask, what’s readying itself in the quiet?
Because leadership isn’t just about vision.
It’s about pace.
And the courage to choose a rhythm
that honors life over performance.
Heliogenesis has shown me this, too:
that the sun doesn’t shine 24/7.
And it doesn’t need to.
Its rhythm is its strength.
Its consistency.
Its rest.
Its return.
We can live like that, too.
So wherever you are—
whatever you’re building—
maybe you don’t need to push today.
Maybe you need to pause.
To walk.
To nap.
To stare out the window and let something re-arrange itself inside you.
Because the next step often arrives in the silence.
with calm and breath,
Malte
P.S.
If you’ve been feeling tired,
please know it doesn’t mean you’re off-track.
It might just mean you’re tuning in.
Next week, I’ll write about inner timing—
how to move with your own cycles, not the world’s expectations.
We’ll talk about trusting your own clock—and living by presence, not pressure.