Slow down now blog

It’s all well and good to go slow. You know it makes sense. But what about the hurried and harried? Will your mug, bag, or slow t-shirt from the slow shop help other people see the light? Or will it drive them up the wall?

Tags: Talk Back by Christopher
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I’ve said elsewhere that I’m not against hard work. I am happy to watch others work hard. Mark Twain said something to the same effect. But sometimes your options narrow, and you have to roll up your sleeves, put you shoulder to the wheel, knuckle down, with your best foot forward, your nose to the grindstone, grit your teeth and get on with it.

I don’t know about you, but I have found this a rather difficult position in which to get things done. There is a case to be made for getting things done. It seems that getting things done is quite popular.

You never see self-help books on procrastination. But I think there is a need for, “How to Procrastinate.” You never hear about awards for Procrastinator of the Year, or honorary degrees conferred on top procrastinators.

History would have been so different if Genghis Khan, Stalin, and Napoleon had just not bothered to get so much done. World domination takes a lot of effort – or so I am led to believe. I haven’t tried world domination myself.

Getting things done might all be well and good, but which things do you want to get done? Are you sure? That is a question that needs thinking about.

I do my best thinking when in a state of calm. Taking things off your list (if you have one) is a good object of thought. Of course, those wise words, “Never do today, what you can put off and do tomorrow,” spring easily to mind.

If you’re afflicted with list-making, then how about arranging items by doing what you enjoy most? If you simply can’t, let’s say you are required to sit though a corporate PowerPoint presentation (the worst thing a human can tolerate and still live), then think about how you can enjoy what you have to do.

Many years ago, I was an employee of a large company. I was often a PowerPoint victim. Some people love to torture you by reading from the screen. I kept a notebook in order jot down all my witty (and I’m rather ashamed to admit sometimes unkind) remarks. My private notebook made things almost tolerable for me.

I hit upon the notebook idea when I was told that I would do well to keep my remarks to myself. I tried that, but then I was told not to roll my eyes. I wasn’t aware that I was doing it. You see, I had much to learn about being in corporate meetings. The idea apparently was that if you were being told the obvious, even in longwinded detail, you should enthusiastically greet the information as a revelation.

These days I score much higher in the tact department. In all fairness those presenters were doing the best they could.

I recommend the notebook because we simply can’t always voice our true opinions. An added benefit is that you look like you are really interested by taking so many notes. You don’t have to share those secret comments with anyone except your friendly notebook; therefore you can still be necessarily amicable. I do advise not bursting out laughing though at an inappropriate moment. This is always a danger. But the notebook is a wonderful stress reliever. There! You didn’t think you would actually get something useful out of this blog did you?

It takes a lot of effort to do something new. If you want to learn to tango, drive a car, bake a cake, become a nanotechnologist, or sew on a button, then it is going to be hard at first (especially the button sewing). You need to make an effort. But I have come across some people who think that a lot of effort is a good thing. This is clearly nonsense.

My school reports praised my lack of effort. There was always a note in there that I could try harder. But you see I didn’t.

Now here is where minimum effort comes in. If you can achieve the same result with a lot of effort or minimum effort which would you choose?

To my mind the answer is easy. Think how much effort it takes to drive a stick shift. When you learned it took a lot of thinking about. It took a lot of practice. You spent all that time crashing the gears and making a terrible noise. But once you mastered it, it only took a very tiny effort. A better example is a swimmer. The poor swimmer splashes about using up lots of energy and getting nowhere. The accomplished swimmer uses minimum effort. She glides though the water with ease.

It’s a paradox: maximum effort with a goal of minimum effort. Ease up, slow down, and embrace counter-urgency.

Tags: Talk Back by Christopher
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