Slow thinking allows you to get stuff done faster. It sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? Hear me out; it will all make sense in a minute. First though, let’s talk about what exactly slow thinking is. It’s the act of deliberately and methodically thinking about what you are going to do before you do it. In a nutshell, it’s about thinking before you act. And that’s a good thing that will help you make smarter decisions and have fewer regrets later.
By now, you may be wondering how stopping to think things through helps you speed things up. Our tendency in this day and age is to act fast, but that may end up costing you a lot of time in the long run. Slow thinking allows you to act fast and implement fast because you don’t have to stop constantly to make sure you are doing the right thing or to figure out what your next step should be. By spending a few minutes to figure your best plan of action out first, you can act and implement fast once you get started.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. We live in a fast-paced world – where speed is king and slowness is often compared to laziness, or worse, incompetence. Stopping, or even slowing down, to think and evaluate is frowned upon. It’s time we changed that because ‘act fast and think later’ is stressing us out and causing us to make mistakes. Making mistakes isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if we take the time to learn from them. But that requires more slow thinking.
Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you must act fast, spend a little time to slow down and figure out what you’re doing. Come up with a game plan before you jump into action. Consider your options and evaluate the risk, if applicable. Then make an educated decision on how to best move forward. It takes a little time and discipline to get into the habit of thinking first and acting second, but it is something that will serve you well for years to come.
Once you and those around you see how much faster you’ll reach the finish line for any given task or project by thinking it through before starting to act, it will become easier to make slow thinking part of every area of your life. Give it a try – starting today.
