Hello family. 🤗
Welcome to Vol. 13 of Move Fast, Think Slow, a newsletter focusing on cultural trends and mindful meditations. Today’s briefing unpacks the art of slow living. I’ve been ruminating on this over the past few months, wondering often, is there wisdom and peace to be found moving through life more slowly? Perhaps this is obvious seeing as I call this newsletter Move Fast, Think Slow - LOLs. 😂 😉
I must admit, I am not entirely sure what I completely mean by living slow. Yet, one thing is certain. A lot of great things seem to happen as a result of a slow paced practice and approach.
The most recent signal on living slowly was inspired by a conversation on running and training for races. I like to run 5K and 10K races throughout the year. And I also like to see if I can out do my mile/pace from the last best time I had. Runners call it PB - your personal best time. My old friend-turn-running-Coach Heather Park and I were riffing on running and she put me onto game with a new training approach:
“You know Mitch, you don’t have to run hard on all of the runs. In fact, if you want to be an elite runner and trim down racing times, you’d be better off running slow on 80% of the run.”
And I was like:
"From our research, it’s clear that elite athletes train around 80 per cent of the time at what we’d call low intensity, and they spend just 20 per cent of their time training hard," says Dr Stephen Seiler of the University of Agder, Norway.
First of all, that’s awesome. Second of all this got me thinking. Many of the great moments in life and some of the best sauces ever made are born out of going slow. Slow cooking makes best dishes. A slow creative process often makes for some of the best art. And slow running is proving to do more for runners who are trying to get faster.
I’m curious in what other ways can slowing down our process through life help? Can moving slow help unlock new personal bests? The kind of personal bests that are more about finding zen that leads one to new pastures. To new pathways. To new entryways and new exits. To where magic can transcend.
That might sound crazy but what if it’s not? What if living more slowly is a big unlock. And what if it’s the key to finding consistent synchronicity for yourself, for your tribe, and for your journey.
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The Art of Slowing Down
Growing up playing football in Texas at the winningest high school program of the decade speed mattered. During a sweltering hot humid Spring morning after drills on the turf, the old ball Coach would say in his slow Texas drawl….
“Gentlemen, speed kills.”
He use to love to remind us of this repeatedly during the off-season. And we all knew exactly what he meant. In the game of football, the fastest man wins. And in our case, the fastest men. This isn’t just about the game on the field, it’s also an American attitude.
Will Ferell and Adam McKay made a hit comedy movie that’s so funny that people love to repeat the film’s famous line “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” It’s a joke but also it’s a phrase many Americans subscribe to. Adam and Will were mocking our American bravado-cowboy-do-whatever-we-want-despite-how-dumb-we-look attitude. Yet, it’s true. We are obsessed with First Place and winners in this country.
But speed is not everything in life. And moving with a speed-first mentality can drain yourself of vital health resources to stay strong, stay consistent. One could argue that those who are all about moving with speed tend to bring negative attributes to a group. In many instances, moving fast and making those around you move at Mach 10 speed tends to come with negative attributes like stress, noise, ego trips, unclear pathways, delusions of grandiosity, and a sort of all-around mania. To be honest and clear it can flat-out be unhealthy. Sure, a quest for excellence, high standards, and follow-through matters. And getting to the mountaintop with agility and a sense of urgency can be good. But moving fast for fast sake all of the time? Questionable.
Want to know what is healthy? A balance in speed. A balance in rigor against the work. A balance in how you spend your waking hours. Health professionals/researchers are concluding that balance leads to good health.
If you have watched Chef’s Table on Netflix then you know the slow food movement is the backbone of many of the outstanding three-star Michelin restaurants. The world’s best Chefs are creating innovative dishes that are born out of a slower food cultivation process and in many instances, a slower cooking practice. Slowness is delivering the best-tasting dishes around the globe. And slowness doesn’t just spurn some of life’s best creations, it also has some real serious health benefits.
Turns out, there are a lot of areas where a slow and deliberate approach has immense upside. Whether it be walking, meditating, reading, making food, or how we even consume and treat media.
Focusing and reviewing information slowly (reading) is proving to build healthy brain matter. Slowing down the pace while moving forward (walking) is proving to make people more creative. Keeping still, calming the mind, and focusing on breathing (meditation) is proving to have positive impact on the mentals and physicals. Studies are showing that the act of making fresh food (cooking) not only nutrifies your body but nutrifies our spirit.
Generally speaking there is a lot of evidence. Whether it’s a process, training, hobbies, a mindset, or a lens to look at things. Taking a slow approach seems to do wonders for us humans. Not only research proving it is healthy, but what may sit on the other end of a consistent and deliberate slow practice can be magnificent for a multitude of reasons.
Here’s another thing the old ball Coach use to say:
“It’s the journey that counts. Not the destination.”
And that’s absolutely got-dang true.
Perhaps living slow is about harnessing that journey just a little bit more intentionally. Perhaps a life well lived and meaningful work isn’t just about results but unique pulse moments of breakthroughs. And those breakthroughs can be tiny. They can be huge. They can be many things to be honest. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is attention to details (and the beauty of life) while living with intention to be present. What matters is taking each step and each moment with deliberate focus. And in turn, just maybe, some of the best magic life has to offer will grace us with it’s presence. 🙏
MF/TS Odds & Ends
There is so much with living Slow. There’s even a Slow Movement wikipedia page which has twenty-seven sections on it. Dedicated to little nuance of slowness. Needless to say. MF/TS will be covering the topic more in the weeks ahead.
MF/TS is going to bring back some editorial on business trends and insights. After completing Mark Ritson’s Smart Marketing MBA there are definitely thoughts worth sharing there. I’m also geeking out heavily on Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders. It covers every letter written from 1965 - 2014 and it’s basically an MBA masterclass in investment and business management. Some reviews and more to come soon!
P.S. Follow me on Strava to keep up with the training & races in the future too!
Photos of the week
I’ve been dusting off the old camera lately. Feels good to get out there.