Have you ever scratched your head or done a mental doubletake the first time you heard someone say: “Hurry, but don’t rush” or “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.“
Aaahh, who doesn’t like a little bit of wisdom in the form of a confusing juxtaposition?
To me those idiomatic expressions on effort make perfect, practical sense.
Hurry, but don’t rush: Working or putting forth effort with a controlled urgency and a deliberate focus to thoroughly achieve an end goal. (this is my working definition)
“Hurrying” often gets confused or misplaced with rushing, but, gosh, they couldn’t be further apart from each other.
When you rush, you get sloppy.
When you rush, you fumble.
When you rush, you run late.
When you rush, you get frazzled.
When you rush, you get agitated and impatient.
When you rush, you’re placing your needs over others’ needs.
When you rush, you aren’t your best.
People who rush are always seemingly playing catch up.
People who rush are either too busy or never have time to do anything “more.”
Have you noticed these things?
Most things in our life can be done without rushing at all, but not without hurrying.
Hurrying reflects a “controlled chaos.”
Hurrying has a goal in mind.
Hurrying reveals to others your intention and effort.
Hurrying places others’ needs first.
People who “hurry,” seemingly get everything (miraculously) done.
People who hurry get the most things done and are most relied upon when it comes to getting stuff done.
Have you noticed these things too?
It’s not odd, it makes perfect sense. Watch for it. People who “hurry” control their time pretty well. Time, however, controls the “rushers,” but not so well.
Another one of my favorite idioms is “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”
This phrase is just another way to say relax, slow it down, assess & focus, etc.
With all of this in mind, you can “hurry” without hurrying through life. This is part of “feeling” the differences between “hurrying and not rushing” or “going slow to go fast.” It’s a nuanced skill requiring a disciplined effort to “learn” (then, of course, adopt and implement).
To this day, I can still hear my Grandma telling me to “hurry, but don’t rush” when I’d tell her I’d see her later in the day.
And I did just that.
