More Haste, Less Speed: Thoughts from a Snail

Many years ago, I worked in a very busy coffee shop. I was usually scheduled for the weekend shifts, when there would often be a line of customers spilling out the door. The staff were all crammed into a fairly small space, which meant that, despite our best efforts, we would end up bumping into each other quite frequently. 

It was hectic but I really loved that job at that time in my life. I typically went home with a smudge of coffee grounds on my forehead from pushing my hair out of my eyes, and a satisfying ache in my legs from being on my feet all day.

But one day the manager pulled me aside and asked me to look like I was rushing more in front of the customers. When I asked what she meant, she explained that customers feel better if it looked like we were rushing. Even if the speed at which they got their order didn’t actually change, giving off the appearance of speed was key.

I was quite baffled by this request. The link between rushing and making time-consuming mistakes seemed very clear to me. I honestly felt quite sad that it was more valuable to appear fast than to do something well in the same amount of (or less) time.

Needless to say, I no longer work in a fast-paced environment, and cringe a little whenever I see those words proudly written in a job description.

But ever since this experience, I’ve become much more aware of how busyness and speed (even just the appearance of it) is praised in our society. Somewhere along the line efficiency became the primary goal. But at what cost?

A quick google search on the topic brings up some of the obvious consequences of rushing. Increased anxiety, distractibility, and mistakes. One study that caught my eye found anxiety-driven behaviours to be linked to lower levels of empathy. When we rush, we become more focussed on ourselves, and less flexible in response to the things happening around us.

So what might happen if we slow down to a less anxiety-driven pace? Let go of our need for control, and allow ourselves to tune in to our own natural rhythm? I say our own rhythm as I think we all have a pace that works best for us. What might be considered slow for one person may seem incredibly fast to another. I actually felt like I was working at a reasonable speed when I worked in that coffee shop, but my nickname is Snail after all :)

Since those coffee shop days, the slow-living movement has really grown in popularity. When it comes up in conversation, I often hear mention of Aesop’s fable the hare and the tortoise. But there’s something about this fable that doesn’t quite sit right in this context. There’s an assumption that we are all striving for the same goal, and that we even know what that goal is when we start out.

I’m not sure if slow and steady wins the race. I’m not even sure that it makes sense to describe things as a race. But I do believe that slowing down doesn’t necessarily mean doing or achieving less. Quite the contrary, I think it invites us to be more thoughtful, more intentional, and enjoy the process of the things that we choose to do. It allows us to be more aware and open to what’s happening around us, notice the details, and actually see new and unpredictable opportunities when they arise.

A phrase that I heard a lot growing up is "more haste, less speed". I really like this phrase as it points out just how counter-productive rushing can be. So maybe instead of arguing for slow-living, perhaps the real question is why the rush?