Why Great Programs Take Time
Since when did fast become the ideal selling feature for helping people design a program?
I was just tagged in a thread recently where someone was asking for a curriculum coach, and there were so many people who were replying back saying, I can help you get it done FAST. My easy system helps you get it done in 72 hours...
Which got me thinking, why is everyone emphasizing fast?
Don’t get me wrong, we’re all really busy and we don't want things to take forever. But I have yet to see a quality program that is designed quickly.
And the fact is there are a lot of people out there, and there are a lot of programs out there that will tell you it can be done quickly.
But it can’t.
Really good, strong, quality programs with a really, really well architected curriculum - they take time.
I often spend anywhere from 2 to 6 months working with my clients on their programs. From mapping out their framework and how it fits into their offer ecosystem, to looking at the structural components of your program , whether there’s live elements or a community, to getting down to the details of the scope, sequencing, and balancing to make sure that everything is architected for transformation.
That’s a process that takes time and it can’t be rushed.
Plus, when we try to rush, or when we try to get it done as fast as possible, we really miss the beauty and the gift that comes from the spaciousness of being able to sit with something. Of being able to sink into it and ask, Does this feel right?
When we rush through things sometimes we blast past our intuition, or we don't have time to sit and ask ourselves, Is this the program I want to be designing? Is this the experience I want to be offering?
And before you know it, you have a program designed but it doesn’t work for your life, that isn’t aligned with your values, or that isn’t actually how you want to be supporting people.
So the key takeaway here that I really want you to remember is:
If it feels like it’s taking you a long time to design the curriculum for your program, to get the moving pieces to fall into place, you’re not doing anything wrong.
In fact, that is the best gift that you can give your people to show them how well architected your program is, and how much intentionality you’ve put into the experience for them.
And it’s a gift you’re giving yourself to make sure that every step of the way things are feeling good and feeling aligned.
Now of course if things are taking a long time because you’re stalling or getting stuck in analysis paralysis, or you’re realizing you have 5 million ideas and can’t see how they fit together, then maybe we should talk and get your curriculum moving.
But, in general, great programs take time.
And the best programs I’ve seen are the ones where people gave themselves the gift of time to make sure everything was well architected. (And the ones people just whipped together usually end up hiring me 😉).
So give yourself the gift of time. You’re not doing anything wrong if you aren’t whipping your course together in a weekend.