Shownotes Transcript
Cal Newport is an expert on productivity, and he recently went on a podcast that we love called the Rich Roll Podcast. In this episode Rich actually spoke about a coach of his that talked about running a marathon. The coach says, “The fastest runner never wins the race, but rather the runner that slows down the least.” This quote is interesting on many levels. One because almost always we believe that the fastest runner will almost always win the race, and two because of the way this quote reaches outside of the realm of running altogether. The fastest runner would have peaks and valleys to their race. Sprints and walks Sprints and Walks. The runner that never slows down only on the other hand either maintains or gets faster.
When it comes to productivity in any facet of our life we can sometimes believe that life is more sprints and walks than a long term effort, in which we are only getting faster. The discipline it takes to restrain ourselves from sprinting away into the distance to get ahead of others, only to see them slowly passing us later as we are hunched over wheezing. Our relationship with time, and immediate gratification is who we have to thank for that. We believe that we always need to be at the next step right NOW…faster, better, stronger, but in reality the way Cal Newport sees things is that slower is better. Planning your life in such a way that consistent effort will allow you to achieve your goals is a more sustainable and enjoyable approach than the latter. Getting all worked up and then burning out, in a moment’s notice is enticing, but usually more taxing than we think. This week work on focusing on fewer things, and going deeper rather than wider into the things we care about. Value deep work over quick wins. If it won’t matter in 5 years don’t spend more than 5 mins on it.