Hi Reader!
You're allowed to slow down.
Urgency often disguises itself as purpose. All of a sudden, we have a thing to do. We are busy and therefore important; often too important to hear each other out or to tend to our own needs.
Recently, I was in line at a busy coffee shop, the line snaking out the door. When it came my turn to order, I felt the pressure of the entire line behind me and the chaos behind the bar. The woman behind the register caught the whiff of my rush as I quickly rattled over my order and calmly reminded me that I had time to make a change and read the specials if I wanted to.
Now the devil in me says, you had the entire time you were waiting in the line to decide what you wanted! Now you are inconveniencing others behind you if you exchange pleasantries with the person performing a service for you and if you change your mind to an option you didn't know about before that actually better suits you! So, hurry up and decide. She gave me the moment of permission to breathe, to be certain of my order, and not feel like a tidal wave of expectation was on my shoulders.
In workspaces, I notice that many of us suffer from similar obsessions with speed, certainty, and productivity. The combined pressures lead to us pushing through when we need to take some additional time and attention to the task at hand.
Situations like:
An "urgent" request from another team leaves you feeling like you have to reply right now, for fear that you will be seen as lazy or slow to respond.
A need to answer a question you were just asked in a meeting without any time to consider the information and form a real opinion, for fear that you will look like you don't know what you're doing.
A project left until the last possible minute and then slapped together, forcing you to give up your evening with family — for fear that not getting this last bit done will leave you behind tomorrow.
Prioritizing speed leads to negative outcomes, like others on our team feeling like we don't have the time to hear them, and poor leadership decisions like not taking the real time to commit to a plan. Which leads to further consequences like an inability to distinguish what is actually important, and a consistent reactive state.
When we slow down we begin to pull ourselves out of the problem, we start to notice each other, and perhaps even realize that there are more important factors that we could not see before. For example, maybe the biggest challenge blocking our progress is not the persistent support issues but instead whether or not we have really heard the team that does the work and have taken the time to evaluate what options are available to best support them.
When we speed up, our purpose can suffer as demands grow hurried and scattered, distracting the team from the ultimate goal. If you do not set the time to live with intention and honor the time it takes to allow things to unfold, you will continue to see speed and urgency as a quick path to success. Instead, this will often lead us to a place of distraction, frustration, and burnout.
Oftentimes, all we need is a reminder. A friendly person who can set the pace, to remind everyone in the group that we are up against big challenges and the last thing we want to do is rush. So how do we slow down a world that demands a breakneck pace? We start with ourselves. We become the person who sets the pace. We create a small buffer in our reaction times, and widen that window to include the rest and contemplation needed to consider the issue. That is where we focus. You are allowed to slow down.
Reflections:
What would happen if you shifted away from speed and instead focused on quality?
How do you feel when someone around you is moving slowly?
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What I'm currently reading:
Books:
“Leadership Dojo” by Richard Strozzi Heckler
“Everything that rises must converge” by Flannery O’Connor