#45 - Slow and Steady
Hello,
This morning, I crossed paths with a snail. I noticed it by miracle, a split second before I would accidentally step on it. What could have been a tragedy, ended in beauty. I slowed down and stopped for a few minutes to observe it. The snail was moving slowly, yet with elegance and determination. Does it always matter how fast we are going? Aren't direction and what we are carrying along more important than speed?
A few ideas came to mind about how we move in life and why speed is not the only thing that matters.
Set the Pace: Never Less Than X, Never More Than Y
Greg Mckeown on setting a range that enables steady and effortless progress:
"When we are trying to achieve something that matters to us, it's tempting to want to sprint out of the gate. The problem is that going too fast at the beginning will almost slow us down the rest of the way.
We can find an effortless pace.
When you go slow, things are smoother. You have time to observe, to plan, to coordinate efforts. But go too slow and you may get stuck or lose your momentum. To make progress despite the complexity and uncertainty we encounter on a daily basis, we need to choose the right range and keep within it: Never less than X, never more than Y.
Finding the right range keeps us moving at a steady pace so we can make consistent progress. The lower bound should be high enough to keep us feeling motivated, and low enough that we can still achieve it even on days when we're dealing with unexpected chaos. The upper bound should be high enough to constitute good progress, but no so high as to leave us feeling exhausted. Once we get into the rhythm, the progress begins to flow."
Source: "Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most"
Think Where You Are Going: Speed Means Little Without Direction
Farnham Street authors on the difference between velocity and speed:
"Velocity is often confused with speed, but the two concepts are very different. Speed is just movement; even if you are running in place, you have speed. Velocity has direction. It's much more important to pay attention to where you are going and not how fast you are moving. No one wants to be a hamster in a wheel, focused on moving so fast that we lose track of what we're trying to achieve. While speed ensures movement, velocity produces a result.
Our progress in a given area is not about how fast we are moving now but is best measured by how far we've moved relative to where we started. To get to a goal, we cannot just focus on being fast, but need to be aware of the direction we want to go.
We calculate velocity by dividing the change in distance by the change in time. Something has a constant velocity if it is moving at a consistent speed in a straight line without changing direction. Usually a constant velocity in the right direction is the most effective strategy to get where you want to go. Too many changes in direction, and you can end up going in circles."
Source: "The Great Mental Models Volume 2: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology"
You don't have potential, you have momentum
We started with speed and a healthy pace and moved on to distinguish between speed and velocity. The final idea is about momentum. I liked how Marcus Buckingham uses the concept of momentum to replace the damaging and unproductive idea of people having “potential”.
The idea is that all of us can describe ourselves in the current stage of our careers with two sets of characteristics.
The first is our traits: who we are as a person, what we love, and what makes us tick. These are loves and aspirations that are uniquely ours and that we carry around with us wherever we go. This is our mass.
The second is our states: it's our accomplishments, measurable skills, and experiences that show how we've moved through the world and in what direction. We can label this our velocity.
"In the world of physics, there's a name for the discrete, measurable, definable, and directional thing that is produced when mass and velocity are combined. It's called momentum. In the world of teams and team members, the same applies.
Only certain people have "potential", everyone has momentum. One team member's might be more powerful than another's, or speedier than another's, or pointed in a different direction, but everyone has some. The question isn't whether you inherently possess a lot of it or not. Instead, when it comes to momentum, the question is how much of It you have at this very moment, right now.
Potential is a one-sided evaluation. Momentum is an ongoing conversation.
Addressing their potential makes people feel like they've been dealt with. Addressing their momentum makes them feel understood. More important, it helps them understand themselves, by encouraging them to consider where they are, right now - not as a point of stasis, but as a unique human being moving purposefully through the world"
Source: "Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World"