Velocity

Things start slowly and gradually, then happen suddenly all at once. That’s true only if there is high rate of change, momentum is maintained and compounding is not interrupted. Speed sets the incentive structure and these are some of its emergent properties.

If you’re slow your output will be smaller and one mistake counts more. Velocity reduces the cost of errors, dead ends and flops. Not because they count less. But because if they’re fixed quickly they become forgivable.

It is so hard to forgive yourself for making mistakes. Failing badly can feel like a traumatic event of historical importance, if you’re not used to making a lot of mistakes everyday. Speed gives you the opportunity to make a lot of mistakes on a consistent basis. So you can build tolerance for imperfections and chaos. Their importance shrinks as they become experimental steps and instead of events.

Reducing the time between idea and execution also reduces the cost of being open minded and trying many new ideas. Just enough for it to exist, work and be tested. Imperfections will be fixed after validation. This maximazes action and real world engagement. If you’re slow each attempt feels final, so you try to oneshot every time.

When you’re behind speed is your only chance to catch up. But with a high enough rate of change you’ll catch up and eventually lead. You’ll shift from being late to being early. Speed allows you to adapt quickly, and it makes you hard to kill.

Slowness also allows dwelling in the undecided state of possibility. If you’re fast you can’t tolerate that kind of vagueness because it makes you stuck. To move foward one must make a decision. You either do something or you don’t.

This kind of decisiveness also helps quickly cutting what is not working. As soon as something is recognized as unfunctional it must be deleted. Keeping things longer than you should usually means you’re attached. Being fast prevents attachments because you don’t have enough time to get attached to a solution that is holding you back. So cutting it will cause little to no sense of loss. [1]

Generally speed is a good simplifier force. It incentivizes you to be brief and to not allow things to prolongue more than necessary. Being fast lowers your tolerance for distractions, making it easier to recognize what to ignore. It makes you fastidiously impatient for unimportant things you don’t care about. Cutting through the superfluous to confront the substance. Space occupied by rumination will feel awkwardly expensive. [2]

If you’re looking for what is slowing you down you’ll get to the bottlenecks quickly. Which means that what is important becomes clearly visible. Making it easier to know what to focus on. Velocity can also build momentum if you make progress quickly and you don’t break the streak.

The failure mode of speed optimization is the performance of speed. When things stall one may try to create the illusion of movement either to himself or others. If the loop is not recognized it may feel dangerously productive. Measuring actual outcomes can help raise awareness. [3]

Realize in the real world things will probably take longer than you think. But you shouldn’t be discouraged. Keep your sense of urgency and work super hard to make things happen as soon as possible!

End note: Life is short and hesitation will teach you when to act. If you’re faster you’ll do more things. So you’ll not only get more of what life has to offer, but also live more.

Notes

[0] General note. Speed is not the magic cure that makes one focus, ignore distractions and solve all productivity bottlenecks. But it is a generally applicable heuristic that can improve productivity. I also think there are times in life where slowness is beneficial.

[1] Sometimes cutting is a mistake, but one can always add back later.

[2] One still needs the ability to differentiate between things that feel urgent and important from actually important things. But if you’re fast you’ll get more experience and you’ll learn to recognize them quickly.

[3] measuring the wrong metrics can lead to a lot of wasted time.