Speed is my enemy

My handwriting isn’t pretty. It’s not even always legible. I’ve realized that this is because, when writing by hand in a paper notebook, I start writing one of the letters from later in the word, before finishing the one I’m on. This means I spend half my time compensating for mistakes.

Another problem with speed is that it makes me clumsy. I knock things over and spill things. I believe this is because my brain has already moved on to the next thing before completing what it’s currently doing. It’s quite frustrating.

When I deliberately try to think and move more slowly, things happen faster. That sounds like a contradiction, but not having to rewrite words or clean up spills makes everything move along at a more consistent pace. And I don’t swear as much.

I struggle to slow down, though. If I stop paying attention, the clumsiness returns. Meditation helps. A pattern I’ve noticed is that the more consistently I meditate, the more my brain is able to align itself with what my body is doing. Sounds weird, but ever since I started paying attention to the way speed affects my abilities, things have improved.