Speed Wins
Retrieved from https://www.autoevolution.com/
Last week, while driving down a side road that used to be classified as rural, I came upon one of those blinking speed indicators that sits beside the road and is used to get your attention when you’re going a little too fast. Typically, the device flashes the speed at which you are traveling when you pass it. Sometimes, when you’ve greatly eclipsed the posted limit, the number will rapid-fire at you as if it’s screaming, trying to jolt you into attention to bring things down a notch.
Last week the one I zoomed past just said, “REALLY ??”
Fast is my default. It’s my most natural state. I drive fast and shop fast and plant flowers fast and fold laundry fast. I read fast and eat fast. I speed clean the house and run to the car, and wrap Christmas presents like a cowboy in a rodeo roping a calf. Dawdling is not in my DNA.
And while a lot of stuff gets done that way, some things can get scattered, too. It’s the battle of progress vs. perfection, I suppose, with the nod going toward the god you’re trying most to please.
I’ve never much been one for standing around waiting. I’m drawn to people who are on time, or better yet, early. People who show up and get things done rather than sit around and wait to be told what to do. And though I’m not super proud to admit it, I’m more inclined to cut before actually measuring than I am to measure twice. I like to get things done.
In our gym at the University of Oklahoma, we had a sign on the locker room wall that said, “Fail Fast.” We believed the more mistakes we could make, the quicker we could improve. I never felt like much was to be gained by hanging back and playing it safe until someone was absolutely sure. We drew a line and stood on the side of action, the space where errors of commission gave us information that ones of omission never could. “Do it, even if you do it wrong” was the quickest way to learn.
Young coaches often asked me what I looked for in recruits. As a college basketball coach, did I value athleticism or skill? Did I want size or did I want speed? Yes, is what I was always most inclined to say, as all of it is what I’d like, if you’re saying I get to choose. Unfortunately, however, Michael Jordans are very hard to find. So, what I combed the gyms for was speed. If I could pick my treasure, I’d want a team full of guys who were fast.
I wanted fast feet or fast hands or fast eyes or fast minds. No player had to have them all. (Though if she did, I certainly wouldn’t complain.) But it was important to find players who were fast in at least one kind of way. Because speed wins on the basketball court. Speed turns the other guy into a reactor. It runs right past snags and over dilemmas and covers up all kinds of sins. The game belongs to those who know where they’re going and to those who can get there first.
Aesop said the turtle wins, but I think it depends on the race.
In the start-up world, for example, fast is priority one. Quickly acquiring capital, speed-growing engagement, and making split second decisions are fundamental priorities that floor any chance for success. Some say building a business is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. But if you’ve ever watched a runner do the 26, he never doesn’t run.
Going fast isn’t the same as hurrying. (Though often I’m guilty of both.) Hurry implies haphazard. The sound of the word conjures up this vision of a tiny tornado flitting around leaving behind a trail of clutter and a mountain of debris. It hints of crazy hair and disarray and piles of pieces without parts. (I think without intending to I just described me in my car.) Knee-jerk reactions, quick-trigger decisions, and hurry-up habits can create all kinds of mayhem. When details get glossed over and knots don’t get thoroughly tied, trouble will most assuredly ensue. But fast doesn’t necessarily mean a hit-or-miss approach. It just implies a sense of urgency. An absence of messing around.
Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Coach-Wooden
The incomparable John Wooden nailed it pretty clearly years ago. “Be quick, but don’t hurry,” he said. In other words, “Go.” He was talking about basketball, of course, but as is true in Wooden-land, he was talking about lots of other things as well. Decide. Proceed. Move. Do. Get on about your business and get about it as fast as you can.
Progress and perfection are not necessarily good bedfellows. They thwart one another without intending to, and yet both have things in common as neither has an end. It’s funny how the two pursuits just rub each other wrong.
Some people are, undoubtedly, by nature, default plodders. Their ace is slow and steady. And when they arrive at the finish line, every hair is in place. Their “i’s” are dotted and their “t’s” are crossed, and their clothes don’t have any wrinkles nor are there smudges on their shoes. Ahhhhh. Perfection. Those guys always look so good.
The fast guys holding the trophies usually think so, too.
P.S. Speed