Today’s topic is on how to “slow the pace.” Eventually, we will expand our topics beyond how to interact with Friday itself. But while we are still in the infancy stage of “This is Friday”, we need to get some ground work out of the way. So today, we will learn how to slow the pace down on Fridays. These tips can be applied with any team. Remember a team consists of more than one person. It can be a team, a family, a small group, a company or even a couple. Also, Friday is a day, but it also represents the end of your work week. i.e. Thursday could very well be your Friday.
Why are we in a hurry?
By nature (which means normally and you know how I feel about normal – checkout nolongercommon.com), we overestimate how much time we have and we underestimate how long it takes to accomplish anything. Let me restate that. It’s common to overestimate how much time we have. It’s normal to underestimate how long it (whatever you’re working on) will take. This combination continually places us in hurry up mode. And Friday, being the last working day of the week (for most), becomes crunch-time. We try to use Friday to complete everything that’s gone over its schedule.
Why is slowing the pace important?
Slowing your pace down is only important because of its alternative-going at a fast pace. Moving at a fast pace, as you know and have experienced, leads to unnecessary mistakes and missing key details. Have you ever rushed through preparing dinner and forgot an ingredient because you were in a hurry? Have you ever forgotten to lock the door as you rushed to leave? Have you ever sent an email or written a document in a hurry only to find out you had missing words and typos? How about forgetting to put fuel in your car when you’re late for work? Just think about what happens in our lives over a long period of time, when we’re always in a hurry. What mistakes could have been avoided? What could have been possible if we weren’t in such a hurry?
I know this topic totally goes against what’s popular in the workforce or anywhere in our busy lives for that matter. People today are just naturally in a hurry. We want it fast; we need it quick. In order for you to have a better way, you must have a different way. Slowing your pace is one way we can be different; thusly gaining different results.
[…] Slowing your pace is impossible if you don’t take a moment to breath. You have to stop and allow yourself time to think and process. What day do you have to plan? When do you think about how you can improve your process? What day do you have for reflecting? When will you improve and become better at what you do? When will you feel like you’re in control and not working out of control? […]