festina lente
So.
This is about business, life … and choices.
It is about the latin … festina lente.
“Make haste slowly”
–
Emperor Augustus
First.
About Augustus.
Augustus was born with the name Octavian. Well educated in philosophy, rhetoric, and military skills as a boy, he was adopted by his uncle Julius Caesar and became his heir. When Caesar was assassinated, Octavian raised an army to claim his inheritance and avenge his uncle’s murder. At the battle of Actium in 31 BC, he defeated the last of his opponents, Mark Anthony, and took control of Rome.
Good ole Augustus said a number of smart things but this quote is a humdinger.
Haste and slow.
Patient quickness?
Anyway.
This concept is all about being choiceful in movement rather than just scurrying around.
So often we are hasty in our lives.
And by being hasty we often miss opportunities to take advantage of the moment.
This quote by Augustus tells us to do as much as possible, but while managing your time as well.
Maybe in other words … try and enjoy all of the aspects of your life and moments in your life but don’t dawdle (I love typing that word) over the meaningless.
The challenge is that it is equally important to take in the moment, make a moment meaningful, and find the best way to make it last … and still make sure you get going ‘with haste’ to make the next meaningful moment.
But.
I do know I chose this quote because it could be applied to all of our lives.
We have all seen it (and depending on your own personality you live it up and down the scale of “all the time” to “some of the time”) where something needs to be done in a hurry and you go so fast you make mistakes.
Learning to pace yourself and find the optimum speed is not easy.
Controlled speed.
Whew.
It is difficult as the list of things to do grows and life around you seems to be going a zillion miles an hour.
I actually suggest this is like when you were a kid and the old playground merry-go-round thing is spinning and you are judging when to jump on (or jump off I guess).
You aren’t running around it in circles and then jumping on … you wait … maybe take a couple of steps to get some speed and jump on.
For girls?
That jump rope thingy thing they always did (which I couldn’t do because every time I tried to jump into the spinning jump ropes I simply got tangled up like a fly I a spider web).
Wait. Patient. Choose your moment. Make haste (or end up like I did all the time on that jump rope thing).
Okay.
Making haste slowly … is NOT about standing still.
Doing nothing and waiting for matters to right themselves will only make things worse. On the other hand rushing into hasty decisions is equally bad.
Even though we might need to get from one place to another quickly, we can still maintain a mindful awareness of our actions.
It’s funny.
Being hasty sometimes doesn’t mean you get more of your to do list done and instead sometimes actually backs you into a corner timewise.
If you aren’t careful you find yourself sprinting from one place to another inevitably dropping things, forgetting things, or making mistakes that you would normally not make if I were moving more slowly.
Haste often makes us believe the world is conspiring against us with the intent to make time seem never-ending yet never enough.
The computer takes forever to shut down.
The car keys mysteriously misplace themselves.
That one phone number disappears into thin air.
Oh.
And maybe you find your haste costs you more time when you realize after leaving home that you’ve forgotten something and have to double back.
So.
When the urge to ‘make haste’ takes over?
Try to remember to slow things down, be patient and then make haste.
I do call this patient quickness.
The balance between haste and patience.
If you are lucky enough to find that balance you seem to get into a flow of things and things just seem to move more easily.
Anyway.
The “need for speed” is a myth.
Being fast is not something to be admired (unless maybe you are an Olympic runner or NASCAR race car driver).
In the end, everyone will remember how well you did something and not how fast you did it.
Life (in particular) is meant to be lived … so … stay thirsty my friends … and … make haste slowly.
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