"There is more to life than increasing its speed." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
We live in a society that rewards speed, even if it means doing things wrong or not enjoying doing them. Let me tell you that speed is very overrated.
We are so used to haste that we keep hurrying even in our leisure time. Have you ever enjoyed a meal you’ve eaten too fast? Or a book you had to read in record time? Or a conversation in which you are thinking all the time you should be going? Or a movie in which you’re constantly checking your cell for new messages? I bet you have not.
We go to the office stepping on the gas pedal to arrive on time. Then we jump from one task to the next one as soon as we can, to feel busy, to feel we are using the time, and to finish anyway the tasks that someone decided they must have a deadline. Really? 1
If you think about it, all this speed does not make much sense. Besides the fact that you can put lives at risk on the road and your heart will not be in a very good condition when you get older, speed, contrary to what may seem, goes against your productivity.
Speed is a breeding ground for mistakes and errors. You jump from one task to another without polishing up your work. You get mediocre results.
If you want to do things well, it sounds much more logical and effective to slow down and pay full attention to what you are doing instead, doesn’t it?
If you care about what you do and how you do it—and your boss should also care about it—, you need to get off this sort of treadmill living. You need to find the necessary calm to decide correctly what you have to do, to think about what is the best way to do it, and to dedicate enough time to do a fantastic job there.
“One person’s craziness is another person’s reality.” ~ Tim Burton
Slowing down. Paying more attention to things. Deeper focus into every thing. Enjoying what you do. Feeling proud of doing it the right way. Living better and more relaxed. How does it sound? Would it be possible another version of reality?
1 Yes, that’s how companies have control over what needs to get done and how they generate the necessary pressure for employees to work “productively”. Personally, I hate deadlines. In FacileThings we don’t use them, we use target dates in which we’d like to get the things done so we can advance our projects properly. These dates are not written in stone; they just show a wish. We have realized that the world keeps running even if they’re not fulfilled.
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