Average Speed vs Maximum Speed

Average Speed vs Maximum Speed

I want to share with you one of my favourite articles by James Clear: https://jamesclear.com/average-speed

His general thesis is that our average speed matters much more than our maximum speed in most areas of life. It doesn’t really move the needle if we have a handful of really intense workouts in a month (maximum speed). What makes the real difference is consistently showing up and putting some work in (average speed).

This clearly also applies to studying or working on any sort of skill. We can be tempted to glamourise maximum speed, pulling all-nighters occasionally, or spending an entire day in our summer holidays trying to learn a song on the guitar. But we’d be far more effective and efficient if instead we focused on our average speed - ie: doing a little bit consistently rather than a large amount sporadically.

This is something that we all probably intuitively know to be true. I’ve certainly tried to apply it to my own life over the years. But I think from now on, thinking of it as average speed vs maximum speed will be helpful when it comes to talking myself into getting out of bed to start the day or to take the time to learn how to draw.

If you enjoy learning new stuff, you should consider joining the 50,000+ other people on my email newsletter, ?? Sunday Snippets where I send an email every Sunday with a few thoughts, reflections, and curated links to interesting books, articles and podcasts I've enjoyed.

Ali


Dr. Saleha Ahmad??

I help executives achieve what they truly want in their lives ?? Life Purpose and Goal Achievement Coach??

11 个月

That is really good! Because your average speed shows how consistent you are with your work! The maximum speed only shows that you can, doesn't show if you actually do the work!

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Nazia Sharieff

GRC Professional | Speaker | Career Coach | Championing diversity in STEM

4 年

It’s the small yet consistent deeds that produce big results in the end ??

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Deniero Bartolini

The agency Terminator. Ask me how to automate your marketing. Top 2% Global Podcast. Get my bestselling book at Barnes & Noble and Amazon

4 年

Thanks for sharing with this, Ali

Darren Young

?Writing The Big Book of Communication B.S. (CEO Edition) — One Blind Spot at a Time

4 年

Great summary. As you said, I've found this to be an intuitive thing that I knew but was not aware of. Looking back, my goal was to read faster and while tips and techniques have helped with that, the greatest benefit has come from consistently reading every night and gradually increasing my average reading speed (without sacrificing comprehension) -- rather than trying to blitz through the book in an attempt to maximize my speed.

Siviwe Konke Javu

BSc Mechanical Engineering

4 年

Thank you for sharing this.

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