Speed is critical to improving.
Suppose you want to get better at anything, speed matters. A friend who shared a blog titled Speed Matters brought this to my attention.
James Somers wrote the blog post seven years ago, but it couldn’t be more accurate today.
“The prescription must be that if there’s something you want to do a lot of and get good at—like write, or fix bugs—you should try to do it faster.” — James Somers.
This is the reason why I write daily. Rather than write one article a month, I write a 200–400-word blog daily. This brings a few benefits:
1. It lowers the cost in my mind to write a post
“The obvious benefit to working quickly is that you’ll finish more stuff per unit time. But there’s more to it than that. If you work quickly, the cost of doing something new will seem lower in your mind. So you’ll be inclined to do more.”
2. It enables me to shorten my feedback loop to improve my writing
I get instant feedback on whether an email was helpful (email replies) and what I could do to improve if no-one replies.
3. It is making me more proficient at writing
“I think to get from bad to capable and then capable to good, you have to write an exorbitant amount and you have to do this writing at a jarring pace, which requires energy.” — Cole Schafer.
So, by speed, am I suggesting putting out half-baked work at a quick rate? No.
“That doesn’t mean be sloppy. But it does mean, push yourself to go faster than you think is healthy.” — James Somers.
Whether it was Kobe putting in more shots at a quicker rate than his competitors or Voltaire, who, by the time he died at the ripe age of 83, had written enough to fill 2,200 books and pamphlets.
Speed matters if you’re trying to get better.
Don’t believe the lie of perfection. Quality matters, but quantity is what improves quality. Focusing on quality does nothing to improve it.
Do you think speed matters?
What do you believe is most important in improving?
🧠 + ❤️ // JO