
My unsolicited praise for slowness
Kaizen is the practice of continuous improvement. It is producing something big as a product of consistent small changes that accumulates over time.
Kai means change. Zen means good. It means change for the better.
I first heard about it when I had my internship at a Japanese company. It was only for a short time but it was an amazing experience! I met awesome people there. People who clearly has a high respect for time and excellence, Japanese environment is known for that. I immediately loved the culture. It hit me ever since.
I have long ago realized that I really wanted to be a software engineer. Hence, on my first days as a software engineer, I was very excited and thrilled. Having the chance to work with these talented people around me, it was a win-win, and at the same time, frustrating situation. I first worked on a fast-paced project with the stack and tools I never heard before. It was a constant “how do I do this” and “wait, what?” moments for me.
It sucks, it really is. When you want to produce and contribute something but you just can’t get it out of your head and see your hard-worked hours actually contribute anything. These glorious lists you should learn, that ever increasing todo lists and the time you have to cope up — all these are frustrating, absolutely. But hey, you gotta stop yourself. Stop and reconsider what really matters. Being bad at something first, I guess that’s just the way things should be. And over time, gradually, little by little, you are going to be good too. As with all things, practice makes you better.
Almost everything is a process. This is something I usually forget when I’m being frustrated with my current progress. And it pains me. Sometimes, we try to skip the process. We rush things. We don’t sit and actually think and reason out things. We sometimes don’t plan, we just do things right away. Let’s not be silly, acknowledge the process. To be fast, you must go slow. Walk slow but don’t walk back.
There’s nothing wrong with fast and brisk manner of doing things. It’s just that, some things will take a while. Some things don’t just happen over night. And it’s perfectly fine.
Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education. — Stephen R. Covey
Here is an unpopular opinion: It really is OK to be slow. In a world full of rush, it is OK to take things lightly. Avoid reaching out for some unreasonable goals so you don’t keep on frustrating yourself. Try not to deplete your willpower. Trim down that to-do list. Don’t glorify overworking and sleep deprivation. It’s the words I keep on reminding myself and will still remind myself in the days to come.
If we can just focus on improving consistently even as little as 1% everyday, we’ll be 100% better after a hundred days. Sounds funny yes, but literally its true.
Do the small stuff. A consistent little will earn you a lot. — Richelle E. Goodrich
