Re:The Discipline of DE (1978) [video]
by potta_coffee on Wednesday April 21, 2021 @05:38PM
(#26895772)
Was going to say this too ("slow is smooth..."), this is a common mantra in the USMC and there's real truth in it. If you perform a task 10k times, slowly and smoothly, it will become muscle memory and speed will come on its own.
The same is true for a lot of performance stuff, like racing, or basketball.
Basketball coach Phil Jackson writes that when you move quickly, do not hurry or rush. Don’t go so fast that you start making mistakes.
In racing, “do easy” is even more applicable. Overdriving the car doesn’t find you much more lap time. The fastest, most consistent drivers are smooth.
So yeah, “do easy” or “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast” aren’t as esoteric as they may seem at first.
He also taught me the phrase "lazy man's load", in reference to trying to haul everything from the car to the house at once. Taking less each time reduced the risk of an accident (like dropping a bag of groceries or having the bottom tear out because it's not properly supported), even though it means more trips it (usually) produces the better result. Which also seems appropriate here, the lazy man's load is born of haste and is decidedly not the easy way in many, if not most, situations.