“Make Haste Slowly” (All is Coming.)

This past week I received an email via my Ask A Question button (Again, please use it.) from someone in our Armed Forces who was newly commissioned and wondering how to stand out in an environment that emphasizes uniformity.

Given that my brother is a former Captain in the Marine Corps (Yep, that is he on the left.) I turned to him for advice. Here’s a portion of his answer:

Lead by example. Lead by example. Lead by example. Make haste slowly – no one gets promoted faster than the norm.

“Make haste slowly”….not the sexiest answer, right? And yet, it is a motto that was used by the Emperors Augustus and Titus (Not to mention the Medicis….)

Given the speed of our lives today, I think it is a motto more of us might adopt—or remind ourselves of. (As a committed Ashtangi, my good days include reminding myself of our teacher, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’s advice (Yep, that is he on the right.): “Slowly, slowly…Do your practice. All is coming.”)

On the off-chance you, too, have been feeling things aren’t happening for you quite as quickly as you would like them to happen, I offer you these thoughts, as well as my favorite haiku by Issa:

Oh snail
Climb Mount Fuji
But slowly, slowly!

If you enjoyed this post you might also like: “Work is Worship”