As we celebrated the triplets fourth birthday yesterday, I was reminded the importance of the saying slow and steady wins the race. What had started out as a nice family out to the movies (Horton Hears a Who, great if you have kids) and a low key dinner with the kids and one set of grandparents, quickly turned into something a bit more (Mom, I know you are going to read this, so do not be upset, it was not planned at all and was very last minute, trust me). I had the expectation all day that it was going to be an easy, stress free afternoon and evening, and it turned out to be quite the opposite.

By the time we got home, what was going to be a small dinner had turned into something a wee bit more, with several more people, in the end it was all good, but me being me, I felt compelled to rush around and try to take care of everything, and wound up loosing steam before it was all over. Bad scene for me, as this was the perfect opportunity for me to practice pacing myself and enjoying the moment and have a good time. Lesson was learned, but it was learned in hindsight and not in real time.

Often times we are in such a hurry to get things done that we quickly forget that slow and steady does win the race, life is not a sprint, it is a marathon and if you rush, rush, rush, you will drop out or miss some of the greatest things life has to offer. This too goes for work, inevitably when you are trying to ship a product you are rushing around trying to get everything done, but you can’t and you start cutting corners, overlook things, tempers get flared and the whole process is thrown out of whack. Now that is not to say that you should grind to a halt or move at a snail’s pace, but being steady and consistent will yield better results.

So the next time you find yourself in a sprint when you know it is a marathon, slow down and stay steady and you will find that the end result is much better than taking the other route.