Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

I borrow a lot of terms from the military for use in my business and personal life. One of my favorites is “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast”.

The quote is used by the US special forces to wage combat against an enemy. In the fog of war, the first instinct for the layman is usually to move as fast as possible as that’s the best way to avoid getting killed. In reality, moving too fast will cause you to lose focus, training, and likely your goals as well. The fastest way is to move slow and smoothly.

Of course, there’s a large application of this to business and something I’m currently practicing right now. This last month has been nothing short of amazing for Secfi as we’ve hit many major milestones.

Our team and investors have so many great ideas for taking this company to new heights. Marketing, growth hacking, hiring, etc…. all insanely exciting stuff.

It’s times like these that we need to remind ourselves that “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.”

Exciting as it may be, trying 50 different things without executing properly leads us nowhere. Rushing products to market without proper planning and testing will lead to failure. Hiring as fast as we can will lead to more trouble down the road.

Things move fast in the startup world. We brainstorm, create, iterate, fail, and try again. These things take time and patience.

Secfi did not get to this level of success by throwing darts on the board and seeing what sticks. We went slow in development, marketing, and hiring. That resulted in a smooth process that we are proud of and that our clients love. Now our growth is much faster than we envisioned.

Now is the time to grow, but while we do, we need to take a step back and remember, “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.”