Do Not Move So Quickly From A Task

Do not move so quickly from a task. Do not proceed before the task is truly done. Before it is completely resolved, done right, so that it does not have to be done again. Not before the habit is deeply established, the goal fully achieved, the vision perfectly realized.

We jump from task to task, from one distraction to another, because our minds are weak, and because they are not connected deeply with our heart. The heart desires connection with our actions, a deep integration between our thoughts and feelings and what we are doing. When we jump from task to task, finishing nothing, that connection is not achieved, and the quality of our work, learning, creation, and doing all suffer.

We have enough time to give to what we do to ensure the task is done properly. If we do not care enough to imbue our actions with quality, then what is the point of doing what we are doing? Some tasks take hours, others days and weeks, while the most important tasks require years of concerted effort to realize. Yet those long tasks are built from an accumulation of results from a succession of smaller tasks. When we rush, if we do not seek quality in the small tasks, then the large task will lack quality also. So do not move so quickly from a task until you have at least touched that quality.

The longer that we spend with something, the more deeply it is internalized, the more profoundly it impacts our life. Reading a single book will not give you great knowledge on a subject, only a taste. Just like reading the chapter for school will not consciously internalize the knowledge and skills held within that chapter. In the study of math and science you will need to memorize principles and formula, staying with the ideas in their application through practice problems until the skills are deeply internalized. Not mastered yet, but at least to proficiency. Do not move so quickly from a task, otherwise you abort that deeper learning and integration.

If the task we are working on is a new habit, moving on too quickly does not give the time needed for deep roots to grow. If we do, the foundations of the habit have only just begun to be established. Meaning that they are weak and unstable. These deep roots are, after all, the principle focus of establishing new habits for personal growth and mastery, necessary to create long-term change.

Change, personal growth, learning, achievement, mastery and success are all measured over a long span of time. We achieve success in great things, and in the totality of our lives, by achieving it in each small task along the way. Just like with quality. We desire success, mastery, quality, and other important attributes to intrinsically define everything that we do, not just one thing that we do in life. So we need to find it internally within each thing that we do, within how we do each thing that we do.

Moving too quickly from task to task implies a scarcity of mental will and fortitude, along with an inability to remain with and endure adversity. If we rush through a project, perhaps we simply lack the focus to really apply ourselves to what we are doing. Perhaps we are afraid to. Or maybe we simply just do not care about the task. I know for me that it is more often fear. It is so much easier to believe that we have the capacity to do something, rather than face our limitations at the present by doing the thing now. Whatever the case may be, mental strength, willpower, inner strength and emotional fortitude are all cultivated when we consciously allow ourselves to remain with adversity.

Along the path of learning, mastery, growth and success, adversity is present in everything that is difficult and challenging. It is present at every step along that path. Adversity is at the heart of all learning, so there is no change, growth, accomplishment, or success without adversity. Thus it is far easier in the long run to become deeply acquainted with adversity now.

Do not move so quickly from a task, especially in those final moments of the work, which can be the most challenging. We are tired. We see the finish line. We want to be done. Yet for this reason, those final stages of refinement and precision can be the most intense and the most important, because that is when the final strokes are made, which might have the most weight behind them.

This practice and philosophy is part of a more Methodical Approach to Learning, Mastery, and Personal Growth which I believe for many people will create deeper, more stable, long-term growth and change. A philosophy that is more conducive towards mastery. In part because mastery is associated with depth and quality in and of themselves, which means that if we focus on them intentionally at every step along the way, this may happen to get us there faster.

In this modern age, with such rapid change and flowing information, we are pulled by the current to move quickly through. Yet this current only pulls us along the surface, countering our natural tendency to move deep within. Though if we can learn to stay with tasks for longer, each action that we take can resolve itself, enabling us to live without leaving fraying threads behind.