“Evolution works on the principle of the fittest not the fastest. Remember who won the race between the tortoise and the hare.”

This quote by Carl Honore, a London based journalist and self-confessed speedaholic, is taken from my favourite book read (twice) in 2004 “In Praise of Slowness. How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed”.

As a young man in my early 20s in Scotland someone in business that I greatly respected gave me similar advice and its been a guiding principle for me ever since. It’s one I make a point of refocussing on at the beginning of each year and with Carl Honore’s book that has now become a lot easier.

In this book, “In Praise Of Slowness”, Fast and Slow do more than just describe a rate of change. They are shorthand for ways of being, or philosophies of life. Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, analytical, stressed, superficial, impatient, active, quantity-over-q-uality. Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-qu-antity. It is about making real and meaningful connections – with people, culture, work, food, everything.

If you want a good read to challenge your thinking and help you re-look at your life, I can certainly recommend it. By the way, in Australia the title of the paperback edition has been shortened to “In Praise of Slow”. I presume the original title took too long to read!

Click here to purchase your copy…..

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