Slow And Steady Wins The Race
September 19th, 2009
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After reading When Logic And Intuition Fail, someone asked me about a related paradox you may have heard about.
Let’s say you drive to work at 40 mph, and come back at 60 mph. What was your average speed?
It’s natural to think your average speed was 50 mph, but it was actually 48 mph. It would be 50 mph if you spent the same amount of time at both speeds. But since you’re spending more time at 40 mph than you are at 60 mph, your average speed has to be less than 50 mph.
If you’re driving to the beach, you might try to hold steady at 60 mph. But you won’t be able to stay exactly at that speed. You’ll sometimes be going a little faster, and sometimes be going a little slower. Even if the fast periods perfectly cancel out the slow periods, your average speed will still be less than 60 mph.
If you use cruise control, you not only save effort and gas, you also save time. That’s what slow and steady (emphasis on the steady) does for you.
And it’s one reason why you’re more productive when you do things at a steady pace, instead of slacking off and trying to make up for it later. It’s better to put your efforts on cruise control.
September 20th, 2009 at 1:45 am
I agree completely because this reminds me of many of the goals i have set for myself – slacking of at the start and catching up at the end will not work in anyway. The problem with slow and steady is that it seems so counter intuitive you have to really discipline yourself to go slow in the begin and to keep on going at the end
September 20th, 2009 at 9:20 am
@ Faramarz, I guess it sounds counter intuitive because it doesn’t really mean “slow and steady,” more like “moderate pace and steady.” There are other reasons it works too, such as by establishing daily habits, motivation by seeing consistent progress, etc.
September 20th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Hey Hunter.
Relating the average speed problem to this concept fits wonderfully. Slow and steady destroys any plan of future catch-up, because the public doesn’t support catching up later, as they wonder why the vigor wasn’t there early on, and feel manipulated.
Maintaining a pace is also more healthy as it is less taxing on the mind and physical form. Thanks for bringing this up.
September 20th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
@ Armen, another thing about catch up is that one generation sometimes defers the burden to the next. Then that generation comes of age and wonders why they have to clean up someone else’s mess. Not exactly fair.