The Right Way is the Easiest Way - Against Deferred Costs: isaacgreene.com

@todd My very first boss approached everything this way and I learned a lot from him. Imagine my surprise when people at my next job seemed to delight in over complication! Thanks for reading.

@jabel thanks, Jeremy. Happy new year!

@isaacgreene “The slow start is a fast finish, but a fast start never gets you there.” Great post, and a lesson it seems most of us are still continually learning. The section I quoted about practicing slowly made me think of a mantra I heard a lot as a new nurse: “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”

@isaacgreene great post! Some of the adages I’ve heard related to this: “you’ve got to slow down to speed up,” and “cleaning by the inch is a cinch; cleaning by the yard is hard” (re maintenance stuff) @bethanyh love the nurses’ version; applies to musicians too. And yes, for some of us it takes a long time to learn this approach 😹

@JohnBrady @annahavron @bethanyh @isaacgreene @jabel @todd delighted to see the discussion my stray thoughts have sparked, glad this had resonance for all of you.

@isaacgreene I’m not usually fond of military metaphors, but this is a good one: slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

@bethanyh Aha! I hadn’t heard of this coming from nursing training before. Sounds as if it was a valuable lesson there, too.

@fgtech It’s the context I first heard it in, but when I was doing a search online about it earlier it does seem it’s mostly known in a military context (though I couldn’t clear find an original source; it seams the Seals adopted it from somewhere but I’m not sure where!) At any rate, it’s a helpful saying for many contexts.

@isaacgreene “Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best way.”

Bartleby, the Scrivener Short by Herman Melville :

@JudsonGreene Uncanny! Have not read it.

@isaacgreene Me neither. I just keep my ear to the streets.

@isaacgreene Amen to this: “take out the trash before the bag is bursting.”

@isaacgreene This also reminds me of an anecdote about John Wooden. The first practice of the year, he would take a painfully long time to teach his players how to tie their shoes properly. The freshman were always bewildered, but it set the tone for the season.