🌱 TREE 174: Grow slowly
Why do I always say,
‘Grow Slowly’
?
You are a large complex organism. Slow is the healthiest way for you to grow
Slow is sustainable. It’s not hard to grow a little every day.
Slow growth is strong. We build things out of wood, not algae.
Slow is fast in the long run.
Let’s say you improved at something by a massive 50% three times a year. At the end of the year you would be 3.4 times better at it than you were at the beginning of the year. That’s really good. Fast growth in spurts can give you impressive results.
Let’s say that, instead of three big spurts, you improved at something by a minuscule 1% every day. At the end of the year, you would be 37.8 times better at it than you were at the beginning. Slow steady growth gives you insane results.1
If you want to grow fast, grow slowly and consistently.
Let’s say it together:
Grow slowly.
Jeff
PS I wanted to make a graph that shows the difference between the two speeds of growth in today’s email. It would communicate the power of slow, compounding growth so much better than the equation in the hairy armadillo’s speech bubble at the bottom of the email. Alas! My maths skills are too rusty and I don’t understand graphing software. If you have the skills and a little free time, could you make a graph and send it to me? I would be very grateful. I’ll add it to the post on theforest.substack.com. Thanks!
This post is part of the TREE introductory series
There are many songs that grow slowly. This is one of my absolute favourites. It gets huge. Headphones on.
The Memory of TREE playlist – every song from every email:
Obviously, these numbers are snatched out of the air. The example takes no account of the bumpiness of real life or the law of diminishing returns. But the point is valid.