Everything in the world is telling you to go fast. Deadlines. iPhone apps. Same day delivery. Order now and save. We press a button and within hours something that used to require a trip to the store is on your doorstep. We are so accustomed to getting what we want almost instantaneously without any actual effort that we’ve forgotten what it’s means to go slow. And why it’s important.
What takes time anymore that’s actually worth the investment? Relationships? Maybe. But in business who you support and who supports you can change every few months. Our sense of loyalty has been disrupted by the rapidly changing technological landscape and if we don’t get more (money, time off, stock options, promotions) we can leave that day and find something new that does give us more.
Where are we investing long term? And what are we investing in? The world isn’t designed for slow and steady wins the race anymore. Even in athletics where it sometimes takes years to acquire the skills necessary to compete at the highest levels, someone is always chasing you down. So we make trade offs. I’ll sacrifice x to get y. Maybe if I’m a little less technical I can get stronger and compensate by having more power. If I get the best equipment and the best coaches that money can buy maybe I’ll have an edge over the person with decade old equipment going it nearly alone. We take advantages where we can in order to get the short term win. And that’s exactly what it is. Short term. Eventually something will give. Your body. Your desire. Your fancy equipment.
Sustainability takes planning and forethought and the ability to put off our intense need for instant gratification. The ability to see past the immediate glory and into the future that we want to live in. The ability to stop thinking about everything as endlessly expendable. And the desire to actually have a future.
It’s a struggle to find those things in life that are so precious and worthwhile that we are willing to invest our whole selves. Uncertainty sits upon our shoulders tapping and nagging and creating noise. But what if I invest and it doesn’t work out? It’s easier to choose something shorter term and of lesser value to us when it’s guaranteed. It’s far riskier to our “gimme now” brains to choose to work hard for a long time and maybe not get what we initially wanted. Perhaps though we might find something else along the way. Something we didn’t know was possible. Something that only a long journey can bring. The less quantifiable the better.
