You have an idea. It’s a great idea. You gather materials and carry it out. It doesn’t work. You give up. What made you think that would work, anyway?
Slow motion water burst from 3dverstas
Wait. Act fast, fail fast, criticize fast. All that speed doesn’t allow you to learn a damn thing. Cutting your losses doesn’t teach you anything except how to cut.
There is a huge benefit to doing things slowly. We live in a super-fast culture, but it’s the same culture that doesn’t like mistakes, that encourages blamestorming as a fair shot in competition.
What’s the benefit of slowing down?
You can anticipate. Slowing down let’s you think before you act. You can think through the next several steps to see if they are what you want, if those steps move you to the result. If they don’t, you can choose another plan.
Slowing down saves time. Anticipating helps you plan more than one step ahead, create a Plan B, and discover options. All that saves time. Saving time reduces anxiety and possibly money. All because you slowed down.
Practice helps you get it right. Slowing down allows you to practice your steps before you have to do them. Practicing anything, from a piano concerto to a speech, makes you better at it. “Winging it” will just result in making your mistakes public. Slow down. Practice. Then when you do it, it will work, and you will know how come it worked. That allows you to do it again–the right way.
Slowing down slows time down. When time slows down, you see more and you understand more. The more you understand, the more you learn, the more you can use what you know.
Excellence takes time. No one was born an expert. You are not the exception. When you do things step by step you can see mistakes, often before you make them. You have more time to do each step, if you aren’t racing. John Wheeler, the physicist, said, “Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.” Take advantage of time.
–Quinn McDonald is a writer, trainer and life coach. She understands the value of slow.
QuinnCreative 
More than 150 boxes already unpacked and about 20 more to go.. so what is happening? My own body is slowing me down! I mean I want more energy to finish packing and to get the entire house the way I like it but something says STOP”.
I had no time to slow down so I knew I had to go with the flow. Somewhere I discovered that the flow was only going for the flow itself and not for me. Now my whole body and mind are like a very old dog that has tremendous difficulties to come out of her dog bed, still yearning to play with the dogs outside and desperately trying, but all she can do is drag herself back to her doggybed and sleep.
If you’ve unpacked 150 boxes, it’s time for a rest for sure! Your body never lies to you. Not an old dog, just a tired mover!
Thanks Quinn!
I love your five benefits!
We all know we should slow down. But how to do that? Seeing the benefits and reflecting on them helps.
It’s really hard, particularly if you tend to be driven. I have a hell of a time slowing down, and I wrote down what worked for me!