Sometimes trying to go too fast can actually slow us down.
A few days ago, I was with my daughter, and she decided to jump on an older tricycle that she once rode. It was smaller than the bike she’s been learning to ride, so she was able to easily reach the pedals and didn’t have to worry about balancing.
When it was time to head back to our house, she suddenly was in a hurry. Pedaling furiously, she road towards home as fast as she could. The problem, though, was she was pedaling so fast that she kept losing control, either swerving off the sidewalk, or struggling to keep from tipping over. In her desire to go fast, she was actually making the trip home longer than it would have been otherwise.
After seeing her go off the sidewalk a few time, I finally told her, “If you slow down, you might actually make it home faster.”
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I’ve seen the same thing in my own life and those around me. In a desire to get somewhere fast, we can get in such a hurry that it actually costs us time in the long run.
Perhaps you’ve experienced this too. We can rush to conclusions, or make false starts. We get stuck in detours or miss crucial pieces of the puzzle because we’re in a hurry. And although we rush around, tiring ourselves out, there’s little progress to show for it.
The issue is not with moving quickly in and of itself. Sometimes doing so is necessary, and even important. Legendary coach John Wooden used to tell his players, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” In the game they played, he knew that they needed to act quickly, but that being in a hurry would lead to costly mistakes. The challenge is knowing where the line is between moving quickly and being in a hurry.
So when you find yourself in rushing around, just remember that being in a hurry doesn’t mean you’ll get to where you’re going any faster. Sometimes it actually increases the time it takes to get there. In those times, slowing down, even just a little, can not only alleviate unnecessary stress we put on ourselves, but can also reduce the number of mistakes we make along the way. And sometime, it can even save us time down the road.