Slowing Down to Speed up #32
I travel quite a bit. I observe people for a living. Going to the airport is a virtual overload of people, behaviors and adventures into human interactions of the best and worst sorts.
Because I’ve accumulated enough miles, I’m often in First Class when I travel. It’s nice, it allows me to work as I fly, to not worry about a meal at times, and I can board early and have a routine that affords me time to relax before we take off and during the flight, though I’m still not able to sleep.
I have systems and processes I’ve built to ensure I don’t forget any of the necessities. I’ve learned to pack in a minimalistic way and most often have all I need and not much more. I’ve mastered the weather apps, Uber and checking in at the airport and hotels. It’s become simple and routine.
From the work side of things, my team has made it easy to travel by creating systems and processes to ensure all the details are handled, the clients have what they need, I am prepared and they’re at-the-ready should I have an issue at any point during my trip. We’ve worked through all the foreseeable issues, and based on many prior challenges and hiccups, it’s almost always seamless from our side of things.
As someone who enjoys being prepared (maybe too much – on the control freak side of things), I’ve realized that by slowing down and stepping back, strategically observing myself and others, improving by repeating the things that create consistency, reducing the opportunity for human error and offering ease where it would previously have required thought, we actually speed up.
It applies to business and life, when we remember.