Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

We are in a hurry. We still need to do this well.

Basketball coach John Wooden, his UCLA teams won 10 national championships, had many sayings. One was, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”

Hurry means to move or act with great haste. There is some implication in there about moving or acting so fast that mistakes are bound to happen. (Mistakes often happen when going slowly, but that is another thought for another day.)

Then there is be quick. I like to be quick. I like to get things done in a short span of time. Sometimes we have work to be accomplished and due to circumstances beyond our control, we have an extra-short span of time.

HURRY UP!

Well, maybe not. Hurry tends to restrict breathing. Restricted breathing tends to limit oxygen intake. Lack of oxygen tends to restrict thinking. Restricted thinking, well, that’s just not good.

Count to five slowly and breathe slowly while counting. Now, what is it we needed to do in an extra-short span of time? Oh, that. Okay. Let’s do it well.