Go Slow

I read something interesting today. Something we frequently practice but surprisingly don't. “Go slow”. Hold on. After typing those two words I realized how uncommon it is to go slow. In our every growing culture of increasing competition, fighting for our place, going after the big “W”. Going slow can seem boring. Not true. Even though, the word slow has often been associated with losing one must reboot our mental hard drive and re-associate the word with our consumer culture driven drive. In our ever-demanding environments that push and pull every fiber of our beings this may be the greatest lesson of all, the one that leads to Shangri-La and helps build long lasting habits. The one that allows us to absorb, learn and excel in new skills and relax.
“This little change has more power than most people realize. It will help to learn skills from martial arts to art to computer activities. It will help form habits that are long lasting. "Slowing down will help you become more effective and ironically, help reach goals faster.” Says Zen habits
It works. It will keep you focused. It will keep you from becoming over whelmed. Multi tasking is for the birds no matter what your boss may tell you. Multi tasking increases stress, increased stress levels decrease quality of life and make us irritable and unpleasant to be around.
Realistically, my world of working fast, keeping deadlines and having to do many things at once is probably not going to go away but if I can concentrate on one thing, one thing that will require maybe 5 minutes, maybe 10, maybe an hour, or maybe 6 and stick to going slow on that one thing. Well, then I would have achieved two things. One, the task at hand hence increasing effectiveness, knowledge and skill level and two the art of going slow which will help me for a lifetime in every field. Hmmm. Would that be multi tasking?
Below Zenhabits suggest
Some of the reasons slow works, besides forming a groove:
1. Mindfulness. When you do something slowly, you can pay more attention to what you’re doing. I highly recommend that when you make changes, you do them mindfully, with full concentration. This increased awareness is necessary in the beginning, when you’re still forming the groove. Later, it’ll become automatic, but at first it’s anything but. You need to pay attention, and you can do this better when you do it slower.
2. You hold yourself back. Holding ourselves back is often considered a bad thing, but it’s not. It’s the best thing we can do, if we want changes to last. When we start a new change, often we are full of enthusiasm. But then we go all out and use up all of that enthusiasm, and run out of motivation or energy or get distracted by something else. But when you hold yourself back, you build up enthusiasm and keep it going for much longer — through that dreaded 2-3 week barrier when people often quit. So even if you want to run 3 miles at first, start with walking and then run-walking (in intervals), and only do a mile or so. You’ll want to do more, but stop yourself. Save that enthusiasm for next time.
3. You learn it right. Doing something slowly means you can learn to do it correctly, without being erratic, and later as it becomes second nature you’ll do it the right way. The importance is obvious in something like martial arts, but it’s also true in any physical activity. And every activity is physical (and mental).
4. Increased focus. When you do something slowly, you tend to do just one thing. It’s hard to multi-task and do something slowly — they don’t mix well. When you single-task, you can focus, instead of always being distracted. This leads to increased effectiveness.
5. Calm. Slow is calmer. Fast is hectic. Go slow to get rid of the chaos, and find peace.