The first time I heard this idea was at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in 2005. I was in the Basic Criminal Investigator Training Program and our initial firearms instructor was teaching us to draw our handguns from a holster and kept insisting that we slow down because “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” Later the same concept came up in combatives training, handcuffing techniques, and driving skills training. A few years later the same mantra was preached by the cadre at SWAT school, and again in the Krav Maga and shooting courses I took before my deployments. It got so ingrained in my physical training that it was always a thought on range days, in the weight room, on the jiu jitsu mat, or driving in traffic.
It’s an important perspective to have when learning new skills. Often we want to go faster than our talents and abilities will let us go without making mistakes. These mistakes cause problems, and problems take time to solve. Which obviously is counter productive to going fast. By going slow we give ourselves space to smooth out the rough edges of the physical motions we are rehearsing so when the time comes we can do them quickly while lowering the chances of making a costly mistake.
This is also a powerful mantra for our thinking. When we rush our thought process we will make errors in much the same way we can throw off our shot grouping on the range by rushing our shot process. We can practice skillfully when we remind ourselves to slow down, check for problems and take the time to sand down the rough edges of our biases and errors in thinking.
I think one of the best ways to reinforce this principle as a cognitive tool is by practicing it as a physical tool and letting it cross pollinate into other aspects of our lives. I’m a big fan of training in combat sports, shooting (rifle/pistol/archery), strength training, and yoga. I’m not very musically inclined but I’m sure the musicians in my life would see the same system at work in their skills development and practice as well.
This cross pollination will only take you so far, so I would also advocate writing as a tool for slowing down your thoughts to smooth out your thinking skills.
I know there are probably a few thousand ways to apply “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” in our lives and I would love to hear your ideas.
