Thursday, January 26, 2012

Slowing down in order to have a smoother life (#1091)

This is one area in my life that I can visually see the consequences of in my mind. In my rush to do an efficient job, I would instead make mistakes that actually turned my intent into inefficiency. Slowing down to go faster is the mantra I came to realize. I had a friend who used to say that by doing things right and not taking any shortcuts, you will always do better than most others simply because you rarely have to go backwards from your own efforts. I know this to be truthful. I must force myself to slow down sometimes because I have a penchant for seeing something that appears simple and rushing through it only to find what I thought was simple had complications to it. Leaving me having to backtrack on some steps, which then put me well behind the effort I would have succeeded at if only I would have gone a bit slower. What I have learned from all of my trial and error learning sessions is that nothing is exactly as it may appear. I must challenge myself to re-investigate my knowledge in a contemplative way in order to get the full picture of what I am trying to do. Yes, I am a man and us men at times feel like we don't need to read the instructions on some things. Well, I have discovered that if directions come with something it is because it is not simple. In contradiction to life, where there are no instructions, just learned behaviors and best guesses, I must even more so slow down and consider what may also be in play with the question or problem before me. I don't fight that internal war with myself much anymore between speed and accuracy. I am not trying to prove I am a genius, special or unique in my problem solving skills. I am just focusing on slowing down so that I see the immediate picture as well as the big picture as clearly as possible.

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