Monday Motivation: Learning to Slow Down

"Time is money," they say, so you should try to do things as quickly as possible, right? Wrong! Here's why, and here's how to slow down.

Western culture is framed by obnoxious axioms like “time is money” and by destructive advice like “the early bird catches the worm.” As a result, we constantly feel pressed to work faster and show up earlier. Is it any surprise that we are in a never-ending state of emotional and physical exhaustion? But there’s a better way to live.

Augustus Caesar — founder of the Roman Empire — liked to say:

To do something quickly enough, do it well enough.

Sat celeriter fieri quidquid fiat satis bene.¹

In other words, if you’ve done something well enough, that automatically means you’ve done it quickly enough. It seems counterintuitive now, or just plain wrong. But this advice isn’t coming from some unaccomplished peon. Augustus Caesar left his mark on the world in the form of one of history’s most powerful empires. (He also has a month named after him.)

This giant was even more fond of a pithier saying:

Hurry up slowly.

Σπεῦδε βραδέως.²

He meant that there has to be balance. Speed isn’t always good.

In fact, he loved this approach so much that coins were minted with a dolphin and an anchor, the dolphin representing “hurry up” and the anchor representing “slowly.”

Dolphin and Anchor on Ancient Roman Coin

Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536), in his seminal work on Greek and Latin sayings, devotes considerable attention to the Latin equivalent of “hurry up slowly,” festina lente, which was his favorite among all the sayings he collected. (He says the phrase goes back to the Egyptians.)

Confucius sees speed similarly:

Do not desire speed and do not seek small profit. If you desire speed, you will never arrive; and if you seek small profit, you will never accomplish big things.

無欲速無見小利欲速則不達見小利則大事不成.³

His point is that focusing on speed is like focusing on short-term gains instead of the big picture. Speed is detrimental.

In English we have:

Haste makes waste.

a saying that dates at least to the 16th century:⁴

The best and worst thing to man for this life,
Is good or ill choosing his good or ill wife.
I mean not only of body good or bad,
But of all things meet or unmeete to be had,
Such as at any time by and means may,
Between man and wife, love increase or decay.
Where this ground in any head gravely grateth
All fiery haste to wed, it soon rebateth
Some things that provoke young men to wed in haste,
Show after wedding that haste maketh waste.

But this isn’t quite the same.

Our modern English proverb is less powerful than the ancient Greek, Roman, and Chinese notions. Heywood’s point here is that we shouldn’t make snap decisions. This is different than demanding that we take our time even once we’ve decided on a path. And for me, “haste” already suggests “undue speed.” Of course undue speed is bad. That’s why it’s undue.

This connotation of “haste” is reflected in a 14th-century proverb:

The more hast, the worse spede.⁵

But the idea goes back at least to Plato:

For by hastening to do everything quickly, I ended up going slower.

Σπεύδων γάρ, ἔφην, ταχὺ πάντα διεξελθεῖν μᾶλλον βραδύνω.⁶

So for Plato, too, the problem with haste is that it impedes speed. In these cases, it’s not that speed is bad; rather, speed is good, but haste gets in the way.

By contrast, Confucius and Augustus say that speed itself gets in the way.

We have another similar expression in English:

Slow and steady wins the race.

But again, this is a hedge. Confucius says more boldly that “slow wins the race,” at least sometimes. And, again, so does Augustus, and John Heywood, along with the countless other people for whom “hurry up slowly” was a watchword: French satirist Rabelais,⁷ English playwright Thomas Lodge,⁸ Spanish philosopher Gracián,⁹ French fabulist La Fontaine,¹⁰ French poet Boileau,¹¹ English polymath Sir Thomas Browne,¹² and many more.

So this week, toss out the idea that faster is always better. Slow down. Take your time, not as a self-defeating strategy, but in recognition of its inherent merit.

Or if you’re going to hurry, at least do it slowly.

1. As reported by Suetonius, Divus Augustus (The Deified Augustus), Chapter 25, 2nd c. CE.

2. Ibid: as reported by Suetonius, Divus Augustus (The Deified Augustus), Chapter 25, 2nd c. CE.

3. Confucius, Analects 13.17, c. 500 BCE.

4. Proverbs, as published in: The Proverbs of John Heywood. Being the “Proverbes” of That Author. Printed 1546. Published by Julian Sharman in 1874. Spelling adjusted to modern norms.

5. Förster ed., Douce MS 52, c. 1350

6. Plato, Republic, Book VII, sec. 528D, 4th c. BCE.

7. “Wait a bit: never be so sudden in your enterprises. Don't you know what Octavian Augustus said? Festina lente.” (Attendez un peu: ne soyez jamais tant soubdain à voz enterprinses. Sçavez vous que disoit Octavian Auguste? Festina lente.) In Gargantua, Book I, Chapter 33, 1534. Spelling slightly adjusted to more modern norms.

8. “Festina Lente, especially in Love: for momentarie fancies are ofttimes the fruties of follies.” Rosalynde, 1590. Spelling slightly adjusted to more modern norms.

9. “An august motto, to run slowly.” (Augusta empresa correr á espacio.) In Oráculo Manual, Maxim 531, 1647.

10. “She hastens with slowness.” (Elle se hâte avec lenteur.) In Fables: Le Lièvre et la Tortue, Book VI, Fable 10, 1668.

11. “Make haste slowly.” (Hâtez-vous lentement.) In L'Art poétique, Chant I, 1674.

12. “Strive not to run like Hercules, a furlong in a breath: Festination [speed] may prove Precipitation, deliberating delay may be wise cunctation [delay], and slowness no sloathfulness.” Christian Morals, Part I, Section 33, 1682. My notes in braces.