Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
After I completed my 2nd year at the University of Virginia, I spent a big chunk of my summer going through Officer Candidate School for the Marine Corps. But that program isn’t really a school. It’s not intended to teach you anything. It’s intended to weed out the people that couldn’t make the cut.
Those 6 weeks were the longest of my life. Imagine being sleep deprived, having a fever, being hungry, running 10 miles with 50 pounds on your back, and having someone constantly trying to make you fail. Every day. For 6 weeks.
It was brutal, but I learned a lot of things about myself during those 6 weeks. One thing that sticks out is great motto that the Marines commandeered from the Navy Seals:
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
One story ridiculous story comes to mind:
Our platoon was given two hours to clean our barracks. That was a really generous amount of time and our drill instructor wasn’t known for being the generous type.
We were scared by that generosity so we all cleaned like we never cleaned before. After 1.5 hours, it was truly immaculate. There was really nothing else to do. But the drill instructor didn’t rush us. He waited patiently until the 2 hours were up.
Then, he went by each bunk and did his inspection. He gave a few people a hard time, but all in all, we were doing great! As he reached the end of the long row of bunks, he climbed up on a chair and wiped his index finger along the top of the Exit sign. It was dusty. Very dusty.
He then proceeded to lose his shit. I’m talking flipping over beds, dumping out drawers, stomping, throwing, and yelling. After 5 minutes, it looked like a tornado had just passed.
All he said was “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
So we cleaned up again. We went slow. Painfully slow. We scrubbed every nook and cranny. This time, we passed his inspection.
Honestly, it might’ve been impossible to pass the first time around. He might have done this whole exercise to teach us a lesson. But nevertheless, my takeaway was that if we had done that the first time, it would’ve been faster.
Now don’t get me wrong — I’m a startup founder and I know there’s certainly a time to experiment, fail fast, and iterate quickly. But other times, it’s worth it to slow down and not make a mistake. Knowing when to use the right approach is your job as a product managers and a leader.
