Better Living through Paradox: Speeding Up by Slowing Down
Slow down.
Sometimes Procrastination is not the specter du jour; instead, I sit at my desk and slog, slog, slog through my work. My absolute determination to Get Something Done is the only thing between my mushy brain and complete catatonia.
Every time I look at the clock I’m appalled: another hour and this is all I have to show for it?? Let’s get a move on!
It’s not that I’m avoiding work. I’m just doing a crap job.
Gradually, I’m discovering ways to handle this predicament. One of the best is to do what they told us in typing class: slow down!
When we were learning to type in high school (ah, the days of DOS and WordPerfect), we were admonished to slow down our typing and not try so hard. Pushing too hard, hurrying our fingers, led to oodles of mistakes and, ironically, slower typing speeds. When we relaxed and simply tried for a focused, smooth pace — voila! Better accuracy and faster speeds.
I find the same to be true in my daily work, whether it’s writing a narrative, researching a new topic, learning a new skill, or coding a website. When I try to go too fast, I get bogged down and frustrated.
When I slow down a little, get my bearings, and give myself time to think about the meta-issues of what I’m doing (what don’t I understand about this new skill? what is my overarching goal in writing this narrative? what is the center of the problem in this coding bug?), I work more smoothly and efficiently.
Speed is a product of knowing where you’re going and how best to get there, not of blind haste.
Chopping wood is best done when you aim for the chopping block. If you aim for the wood, you will hit nothing. Aim past the wood, aim through the wood; aim for the chopping block.
– Annie Dillard, On Writing