Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.

There are times when it's important to move quickly, no matter what.

House on fire? Get out now. Hope you make it.

But it's rarely that urgent, and moving quickly — without proper attention to detail — leads to expensive mistakes.

Say this out loud to yourself a couple of times:

"Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast."

I can't remember where I heard this first, but it's come up in several areas where I've worked to improve my skills. Competitive shooting, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, weight training, business development, large purchases, financial investing.

If you care about achieving valuable outcomes in your work, it's important to remember that rushing into things without practice and forethought is a recipe for needless risk:

  • Putting in a lot of effort, time, and expense on tasks that will have to be thrown out and done over.

  • Jumping into a large project without a reasonable expectation of completion timelines and overall expense.

  • Using up your resources on things you don't really need or will never actually use (or that won't get you a benefit that exceeds your investment).

Slow is smooth.

Taking the time to hone your skills, and to make reasonable plans, will get you a much better chance of achieving your goals.

Smooth is fast.

Once your skills are more firmly developed, or your plan is more carefully thought out, you'll be free to take action quickly, and you'll have a better chance of actually achieving what you set out to do.

Here's the thing:

When you've done something a thousand times, there's less risk in moving quickly.

And sometimes you have no choice but to move quickly, so you do what you have to do and hope that it works.

But hope is not a plan.

Next time you consider a significant investment of time, money, or effort in your membership development, CRM functionality, or fundraising and outreach, it's worth slowing down, taking a step back, and making sure you have a good chance of doing it right.

All the best,
A.

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