If You Want Your Best Productivity, Slow Down
But Not Too Slow
Do you find yourself not being productive enough no matter how fast you go?
Maybe you need to slow down.
Have you ever been stuck in traffic (silly question, right?), and there’s this guy (always a guy) weaving in and out and hauling ass? You meet up with him at every traffic light.
That used to be me.
In a time before proximity detectors and computerize traffic grid systems, they figured out they needed to have red lights connected. I, on the other hand, did not. There was this long commuter road into Atlanta. It was two lanes each way and about ten miles long, with traffic lights about every half mile.
I hated that road.
No matter how fast I went, I still got stopped at every red light.
Every. Damn. Light.
Then one day, my own light came on. That little cartoon light bulb that goes off over your head when you suddenly realize something.
I just needed to slow down. If I went the speed limit of 45 MPH, I made every light. Green lights all the way into the city. Maybe I didn’t get there any faster, but I worked a hell of a lot less and made the same time.
Because I slowed down.
That was my first lesson in pacing myself to make the most productivity.
Years later, I began as a competitive runner. I would line up toward the front of the pack at a race but not on the front line. Those guys were a lot faster than me, and if I started up there, I would go too fast and burn out. When the race began, I would start weaving in and out of other runners, trying to make my pace. And burn out.
One day that little light came on again. (You can see that light, can’t you?). I was spending more energy going sideways than moving forward.
In a 10K race, I probably ran 15K.
So, I started even further back in the pack. And when the gun sounded, I just ran with those guys. Slow and relaxed. Well before the one-mile mark, everyone began spreading out. The faster ones moved ahead, and the slower ones lagged behind. I had room to run.
