It’s sometimes useful to remember that we’re entrepreneurs, not firefighters.
Our ‘how-big-how-soon’ culture and just-in-time schedules make us feel guilty when we take a moment to either fully round out the future or to think in a meaningful way about what’s immediately ahead. Media-darling unicorns and disrupters warp our goals and perception of how quickly we should be growing.
But slowing down is seeking wisdom,Slowing down is solving problems assiduously,Slowing down is sustainability in all its manifestations.
Taking time is not about vacation (we should all definitely get to that, though), but deploying extra resources in areas that don’t often get a look in when we’re always on.
Business coach and all-around wonderful person, Kerry Preston, says:
“Take at least one hour a day to work towards the things you don’t have to do, that you can’t delegate, that can really move you forward and produce a significant result: inspiration, research, making plans, mapping goals.”
It would benefit us all to shift from a constant full throttle to a strategic full-throttle. Rush-hiring someone that you’re not crazy about won’t help you get your product to market quicker. There are rarely times when a company wouldn’t be hurt by a diminishment of quality due to a frazzled, last-minute decision.
Andrew Miller tells Entrepreneur:
“We often use the wrong indicators to measure performance because we focus on pure speed and going faster. Customer service representatives are measured on how fast they complete phone calls, not whether or not the customer’s issue was resolved…
We measure how quickly we grow our business but not how that growth impacts performance and whether that growth is sustainable.”
Is there anything we can do this week to be more present, more attuned, and less rushed?
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