Chapter 99.
Slow Down

Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.

—Thomas J. Watson, Former CEO, IBM

You’ll lead better if you slow down. You’ll get more done, too.

It doesn’t seem like it would be true. It doesn’t seem like slowing down would get that much more done. But it does. Every day you do it, you will get more done. Every day you experiment with slowing down, you will understand the truth behind the legend of the tortoise and the hare.

The most important element of slowing down is to know that you’re always working on the right thing to be working on at any given time. Business consultant Chet Holmes says that he and his clients accomplish that by making sure each day has only six things on the Must Do list. That list lets them slow down.

”Why only six things?” says Holmes. “Because with a bigger list than that, generally you just try to trim the list. You spend the day trimming the list. At the end of the day you feel that most of the important things on the list did not get completed. You just look down and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t do the most important things.’ There’s a bad psychological impact in not finishing your list! And so only list the six most important things…and then make sure you get them done. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ve accomplished.”

If I am on the wrong road, it doesn’t matter how good I get at speeding down the road. It’s still the wrong road.

I need to remind myself to slow down and win. I need to take my sweet, gentle time. I want this conversation ahead of me to be relaxed and strong so that the relationship I have becomes relaxed and strong. So all day, it helps to tell myself: Slow down. Even slower than that.

There you go.