Go Slow to Go Fast
This is another one of those paradoxes of life.
Being in the Flow
When our focus is on the externalities of life, more often than not we seem to be doing something which we don’t really enjoy doing. We are doing it to achieve the externalities of wealth, status and fame. In such a situation we seem to be continuously running a race comparing ourselves with others and struggling to do better. There is a lot of effort. We struggle to go faster and faster but we realise that we can’t cope. We burn out. We seem to be always going slower than the rest. Going fast is perceived as going slow.
But when we concentrate on doing something in congruence with our inner being we are no longer singularly focussed on acquiring externalities. We are more inner driven, more fulfilment driven, more reflective, more process centred, and more slow. And yet more fast. We are in the flow. We accomplish much more with much less effort. In the midst of speed is slowness. Going slow is perceived as going fast.
Ringi — The Japanese form of Decision making
The Japanese form of decision making is “Ringi”. It is an informal group decision making process where the proposal for a decision (ringisho) is drafted and then circulated among the key personnel for several face-to-face behind the scene discussions (nemawashi) in order to arrive at a consensus. The document is finally delivered to the company president for approval. This is just a formal meeting to confirm what has been decided through nemawashi.
The “Ringi” decision making process involves greater participation of people, and may seem time consuming in the discussion stage but in implementation is much more faster. Because everybody is on board. By going slow one goes fast.
Thinking space vs. Action Space
We have a bias toward action. We feel success depends on doing something all the time. But busyness can be a form of laziness. We don’t want to think. We can’t be with ourselves for very long. We need to escape into activity. We feel guilty if we are not busy. In fact we worry what others will think if they find that we are not so busy. We would much rather spend our energy putting out fires rather than reflecting on what is causing the fires.
In order to understand what is causing the fires requires us to slow down and see the truth of the problem. And for that we need to still the mind and allow the muddiness to settle down so that we see clearly. And come up with a wholesome solution. This requires time. Otherwise if we do not reflect enough and with a clouded mind rush in to provide a solution we will in all probability be creating a bigger problem. Going fast results in going slow because the solutions become quick fixes and do not last. But by being slow in our studied response, our solutions will probably be more robust. We need to go slow to go fast.
Slow Science
Today science too needs to go slow. Science is in a crisis because it is becoming commercialised. Industry is demanding to buy the results it wants. And it wants them quickly, before the competitors get their product to the market. Being under pressure to deliver, many steps are skipped as we can see what is happening in the clinical trials for a vaccine to combat Covid 19. The world is in a hurry and consequently industry is putting many lives at risk because of profit objectives which need to be achieved through being first in the market. Reliable science requires time.
In the Slow Science Manifesto we read the following :
“Science needs time to think. Science needs time to read, and time to fail. Science develops unsteadily, with jerky moves and unpredictable leaps forward — at the same time, however, it creeps about on a very slow time scale, for which there must be room and to which justice must be done.”
The Go Slow to Go Fast Philosophy
Professor Guttorm Fløistad succinctly summarises the “Go slow to Go Fast” philosophy, stating:
“The only thing for certain is that everything changes. The rate of change increases. If you want to hang on you better speed up. That is the message of today. It could however be useful to remind everyone that our basic needs never change. The need to be recognised and appreciated. The need to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love. This is given only through slowness in human relations. In order to master changes, we have to recover slowness, reflection and togetherness. There we will find real renewal.”
