“Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast” – Jim Collins, in Great by Choice
These words from Jim Collins are similar to “You have to go slow to go fast,” which I have been known to say to members of our team—but Jim’s phrase struck me differently this time.
(Sidebar – as would any other writer, I went down the rabbit hole to see who originated the expression “go slow to go fast,” and the answer is Peter Senge, in his book The Fifth Discipline. No wonder I use that phrase; it is in my list of “Read” books on Goodreads.)
When I think of why/how I have used “you have to go slow to go fast” before, it is in the context of taking your time on the small details along the way and not taking shortcuts, because that will slow you down in the long run.
In contrast, when I read this quote in Jim’s book Great by Choice, it made me think about two layers of insight:
- taking time on the small things will speed you up in the long run
- and slow and steady progress produces great overall results that, to others, often appear to be fast changes
Doing the same task EACH and EVERY day (or week or other short time period) might seem slow to you, but is typically sustainable and smooth. The specific task isn’t necessarily easy, but rather, it is a sustainable habit or almost second nature for your actions and approach. As with many of my analogies, my mind went straight to running and working out. I’ve written plenty about how much I love running, but I’ve not written or talked much about how I got my love for running from my dad and how I’ve passed on my love of running to my youngest daughter, Annabelle. This past year, she said she wanted to run a half-marathon. For context, this wasn’t a distance that was out of reach. She had run varsity cross country the fall before and had tapped out her long run distance with the team at a 90-minute, out-and-back tempo run. With a few tweaks, she would absolutely be able to accomplish that distance. But getting to that 90-minute tempo run took an entire season of training—long runs, fartleks, core workouts, and strength training days, not to mention the incredibly important rest day (which, I’ll be honest, I’ve never been good at!). Those daily, “slow” actions led to the end of a season that positioned her to carry on the longer runs over the course of the thankfully mild winter (well, mild by far, far upstate New York standards), so that by the time mid-May rolled around, she was more than ready for her first half-marathon. To those we knew in our community who had not seen Annabelle training with the cross country team all fall and hadn’t seen her bundled up and zig-zagging the streets of our small town to get her distance in on long runs all winter and spring, they were shocked to see her cross the finish line and win her age category (18 & under) given that she was “only” 15. Her “slow” and smooth approach to training led to her success.
What does that story bring to mind for you? Whether you have ever laced up running sneakers to head out for a few joyful strides or not, I am certain that you have approached something personally or professionally that, to you, was a slow, steady, and sustainable project that ended in success that to others seemed fast, surprising, and impressive.
I’d love to hear about your examples. Share them in the comments below or share them with me at diane@dhleonardconsulting.com.