Too much to do?
Slow is Smooth; Smooth is Fast. The 3S’s of making hard work easy.
This is a saying that I like to remember whenever I find myself frantically trying to catch-up on too much at once. Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.
I couldn’t find any definitive reference for where it originally comes from, although it often gets attributed to US Special Forces and even Napoleon is credited with saying something along the lines of “Dress me slowly; I’m in a hurry.”
I first heard it listening to a talk from Formula racing drivers – it’s apparently a good mindset for winning races and not spilling off the track in a corner!
The principle is easy to understand.
Rushing into things gives you less chance to assess the ultra-important 3S’s:
- Sequence (what’s the best order in which to do things);
- Strategy (what’s the best way to do them); and
- Simultaneity (what’s the best number of things to be doing at once).
Over the years I’ve tried to figure out if Slow is Smooth; Smooth is Fast is best applied to either standard or non-standard tasks, but I think it works equally well both with things you’re familiar with doing (but have a lot of) and tasks that are unfamiliar.
Getting into the mindset of doing this well is similar to a flow-state (the subject of a future article on this website), in that it’s not something you push or try hard at. Instead, it’s about relaxing into things. As Yoda might have said: “Don’t try too hard; just do.”
Similarly, instead of trying to catch the racing car in front of you, it’s about making sure that you take the best line through the next corner, and the next corner and the one after that. That is fast.
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup. Become like water.”
Bruce Lee
As usual, please leave me a comment if they’re still open below, or tweet me @NickRobCoach. What’s your approach when you’ve got way too much to do and not enough time to do it?
