Slow is Smooth

This week’s email is a principle from Krav Maga that I try to extend to all areas of my life.

It also flies in the face of modern busyness culture.

What is Krav Maga? It’s literal translation from Hebrew is “close/contact combat” , developed in the 1940’s by Imi Lichtenfeld, a boxer and wrestler who set out to combine the most effective elements from martial arts like aikido, wrestling, boxing, karate and judo to create an effective system of self defence under extreme conditions.

Is Krav Maga Legit? 1m30s video from Joe Rogan :

I first started Krav Maga in 2018, and have since become an instructor through the European Federation of Krav Maga, it’s something I personally enjoy. Both learning and teaching.

But one lesson from almost 5 years ago always sticks out in my mind.

The first time I ever met one of our black belts.

Simon was tall, imposing and already had multiple black belts.

His instructions were short, sharp and precise and his attention to detail for techniques was meticulous.

I found him at the time to be quite intimidating.

About an hour into the class he stopped a group of us, and shared something which had a profound effect on me.

“This one piece of advice, probably sums up 70-80% of the instruction that I give to students.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Everyone wants to be Bruce Lee when they start.

Throwing punches and kicks as fast as they can, but they’re missing the point.

The only way you’re going to get fast, is by going slow.

When you go slow, you become smooth.

If you’re not smooth, then go slower.

Then you can speed up.

The slower you start, the faster you will be in time.”

This made perfect sense to me, more and more when I started teaching last year.

I would observe new club members and white belts trying to be as fast as possible.

The thinking was that they were driven by their environment, and more seasoned students who appeared to be effortlessly much faster.

But they would end up flailing around and forget the technique, or butcher it.

Which meant later when they built on these foundations, they exhibited poor control and technique.

The need for speed can create future poor performance.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve used this in many areas of my life:

• Instead of reading 3-4 books at one time, I read 1 book and try to execute what I learn
• Before I create a piece of copy, I am slow and deliberate in my research
• I intentionally do less work than I and my team can handle, so that I can do it well, rather than chase money (speed) and create stress and discord
• Deciding a clear plan of action for a new phase in my life like fitness, diet, dog training (I recently got a new puppy) or releasing a new product
• Giving copy and ideas time to breathe overnight or over a week to see if this is a sound decision

So, before you lurch off in pursuit of the next thing , think on this:

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.