I am a big Oakland A's fan. And this is not a post about baseball. But I read a newspaper article a couple of days ago where a young A's pitcher was being interviewed. This guy is just on the verge of making the big league but is being sent back down to AAA to start the season because he wasn't quite good enough this spring. Reflecting on the source of his not-quite-good-enough spring camp, he said, "It's hard to slow everything down but it has to be done". As simple a statement as that is, I think it's very wise.
I'm a very impulsive person by nature; couple that aspect of my personality with the fact that I don't like leaving issues unresolved and the result is that I tend to make decisions more rapidly than makes some of my peers comfortable. In fact, I've been accused of just wanting to get out of a meeting when all I'm really trying to do is derail what seems like a very long trip when a straight line would get us to the finish that much faster.
And I don't mean to say that I make bad decisions. We all do but I no more than anyone else. What the concept of "slowing everything down" said to me, though, from the perspective of an elite athlete, was that bringing a more thorough focus to my thought process would lead to greater precision. Just like the pitcher has to eliminate all external distractions and focus only on the target, I should focus my thinking more clearly before raring back and throwing that pitch.
There are several "slow" movements out there right now. Slow food. Slow living. Slow design. The basic idea behind all of these "movements" is that you slow down, focus on quality, enjoy what you are doing in that moment, and produce great results. I think slow decision-making is a no-brainer, too. That's why I will be reminding myself to stop, breathe, and think before jumping.
Friday, March 27, 2009
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2 comments:
I too am impulsive by nature - always jumping from one thing to the next, fearing inactivity or, worse, boredom.
As a recovering speedaholic, I find myself stopping more, breathing deeper and thinking before I leap.
Thanks for the reminder!
~Christine Hohlbaum
author of The Power of Slow
http://PowerofSlow.org
I think it's good to think about things that are different from out natures, as you talk about here.
I also think it's good to look think about what we do well and the way we do it well, so as to be able to do those things better and to be able to share them with others.
For example, I used to regularly train staff to interview candidates. A lot of the training was on legal issues, of course. And how to identify strengths. But another important part was to think about candidates who seemed fine on paper but who the team just didn't feel should get the job or promotion--to think about the interview again and the whole range of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the job. In this way, they could learn how to translate their "quick" decision into a deliberate explanation, if that makes any sense.
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