I have found this one phrase to be so true about life. So important for entrepreneurs. So relevant for personal brands, leaders, and anyone who is trying to make things happen in life.
Go as fast as you can, but as slow as you have to.
Life Lesson From my High School Coach
When I was in high school, I was known for being one of the smart kids. I was a valedictorian, and I was always pretty book smart, but my high school basketball coach used to think that I was both smart and not so smart.
I used to have this problem when I was playing basketball.
I loved basketball and ended up being quite good at it, but I used to have this problem where I wasn’t a great ball handler.
I couldn’t dribble all that well, particularly when I got going really fast.
I would make a steal or get a rebound, and I would have a fast-break opportunity and I would have a chance to dribble down to the other side. I would be running really fast and dribbling, then the problem happened that I would always dribble off my foot or I would, I would lose control of the ball.
It used to drive my coach nuts.
My high school coach, ‘Coach Witty’, was very intense. He was a total competitor.
He taught me a lot about discipline, but there was one thing that coach witty said that really stuck with me.
Whenever I would dribble the ball off my foot, he would get mad and he would yell, “Vaden, you’re the dumbest smart kid I’ve ever met.”
He was very intense, but the thing that he would follow up with, while it was about basketball, I have found this one phrase to be so true about life.
I have found this one phrase to be so true about life. So important for entrepreneurs. So relevant for personal brands, leaders, and anyone who is trying to make things happen in life.
He would say, “Rory, go as fast as you can, but as slow as you have to.”
Go as fast as you can, but as slow as you have to.
That is such a message.
It is so important and so relevant today because everybody is always interested in,
“How fast can I go?”
“How fast can I do it?”
“I have got to beat the next guy and I have to hustle.”
It’s all about speed. The problem though, is that often times, speed creates sloppiness. Too much speed can actually be a bad thing, all things being equal.
Leadership Traits
I do think speed is good, but too much speed can create a lot of mistakes.
Speed can cause errors.
Speed creates unnecessary stress.
So, while speed is often a good thing and we want to go as fast as we can, we have to balance that with also going as slow as we have to.
I think this is so important for leaders.
The fact that you’re watching this means you’re a leader.
It means you’re an influencer, you’re a ‘do-gooder’. You’re a checklister, you’re a mover-one of the people with influence in the world.
Because of that, there’s a good chance that you can see 10 steps, if not a hundred or a thousand steps, ahead. Am I right?
There’s a good chance that you have a picture of all the things you want to do for your life or your business, or your brand, or your goal.
Making Progress
There are all these things that you want to achieve, right? All these things that you want to do.
You can see far ahead, and it can then be frustrating when it doesn’t happen fast.
It can be painful and discouraging.
We get locked up feeling mad. We think, “I know all the things I could be doing and should be doing and want to do. And for whatever reason, I’m just not able to move that fast.”
Maybe you don’t have that much freedom, or maybe you don’t have the resources, or you don’t have the time or the money. Maybe you don’t have the support, but all of these things you want to be doing, you know, you could do, but you’re not able to get to them.
When that happens, you need to also remember what coach said, ‘go as fast as you can, but as slow as you have to.’
Be the person, be the leader, be the organization who is constantly, consistently, and steadily moving forward.
Always making progress. Not so fast that you’re reckless and not so slow that you’re not doing anything, but that you’re making steady, consistent progress.
Go as fast as you can. But as slow as you have to.
Do you struggle with this feeling of ‘I’m not going fast enough’? Share your experience in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you and connect.
