More Haste, Less Speed

More haste, less speed. Seem like good words to live by, but in a society where a click of a button takes too long, you wonder how much of that people heed.

We are driven to be first out the door, first in the door, moving at the speed of light, proving that multitasking should be an Olympic sport….but does it truly get us anywhere faster? We play hard, work harder, talk in sound bytes and occasionally remember to breathe.

I recently attended a marvelous marketing event — but I was not totally surprised by the dichotomy of the overall message. Speed was definitely the word of the night but the second message was STOP.

Stop and evaluate, stop and re-evaluate, stop and make a decision based not on speed — but studied slow movement.

Having undergone some fairly significant, life changing events, I’ve had to do what I once considered the unspeakable…. learn to slow down — and every now and then — to stop.

I have learned that when you take several deep breaths that things can be clearer (or maybe just calmer) and that when you are working to achieve a goal, it doesn’t matter how long it takes to achieve it — just that you remain constant…. and if it doesn’t happen fast, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve learned to devote time to slow…. and learned to enjoy life more in the process. I can still work as hard and play harder and I’m still a candidate for the gold medal in Olympic multitasking, but I have learned when to speed and when to not and I am amazed at the difference that has made in my approach to business and to life.

Life can get way too busy to see clearly. The world is moving fast and you have to move fast with it — there’s a lot of meaning to someone saying “Stop the World; I want to get off”.

We rush from point A to point B all the while figuring out how we can fit point C in between the two. We forget where we are going, why we are doing it and how we got to where we are…. until we stop, slow down and think; about our business goals, about our personal goals, about our life goals.

I remember when my son was playing chess. Rather than dropping him off and rushing off to do other things — I’d take a relaxing break, plunk away on my laptop, enjoy a couple of decadent coffees and listen to a great group of kids learning tactics and strategies…. more haste, less speed and a few minutes of true reflection and relaxation that still ended productively…. for both of us.

So as you rush through your day, work late into your night or whenever you decide to squeeze reading this into your schedule…. stop and spend a few minutes really looking at what you are doing, where you are going and why you are doing it and then take few slow minutes to congratulate yourself, give yourself credit, realize where you are and how you got there and appreciate a STOP in the journey you are on before you hurry on to the next task.