POSTS

Hi, my name is Travis... and I'm a addicted to speed

I didn't even realize it. Looking back on it, my addiction was obvious. Sure, it felt like it helped me get more things done, but in reality it was hurting me. "You don't offer overnight shipping? Well I'll just find someone else who does." "What's this idiot doing going 10 under in the fast lane?" Or better yet, the endless frustration at how the "Express Lanes" seem to take forever - and all you're doing is sitting there. Wasting time.

No, I'm not addicted to the speed you're thinking about. I'm addicted to everyday speed. I want things done and done now. From time to time, I tend to cram too much into my schedule, try to take on too many "projects", or almost without fail, try to read too many books. For those who are counting, I'm up to 7 books concurrently now. When I saw In Praise of Slowness, it sounded like something right up my alley.

HUGOMORE42

Actually, I've realized for about 6 months now that I have a tendency toward the fast lane addiction. During this time, I've been making an active effort to reverse my ways. Reading books such as Time Management from the Inside-Out and City Dharma, I'm trying to find the rhythm that works best for me. I'm slowly getting there, but progress is being made.

I don't really know what the trigger was - possibly there wasn't one. For the author of the book, Carl Honore, the epiphany came when he read a newspaper article while impatiently waiting in line at the airport. The article talked about the sixty second bedtime story. His first reaction was how wonderful this would be. In ten minutes, he could get through a half-dozen or more stories, and having spent his quality time with his child be off to more productive tasks. After the initial euphoria of this new discover wore off, he realized how ludicrous the idea actually was. His need for speed was cheating him out of spending time with his child.

As an odd footnote, whenever I write about books I'm reading, I'm sure to include a link or two to Amazon via my "Amazon Associates" account. I figure somewhere along the line I might actually be able to make a few cents off of one of these articles, so why not go ahead and put the link in there. While looking up the page for In Praise of Slowness, I noticed the Better Together section for this book contains a packaged purchase with City Dharma. Both of these books were purchased on separate visits to the local Barnes & Noble, both from different sections of the bookstore, each just out of a sheer chance. Odd footnote indeed.