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I have a hard time believing that this phraseology originated in the military given its historical use in the motorsports community. See Alain Proust, who professed to embody this philosophy. Granted the SEAL community predated Prousts F1 participation, but SeAL tactics were not top of mind in 80s popular culture like they are today.
Marcel Proust is the famous writer.
But yes, it would be interesting to learn about the origin of this phrase.
- I like John Wooden's saying "be quick but don't hurry". I mentioned that to a doctor who trained in the mid 20th century and he said that surgeons had a line "hurry, but don't rush"
“…and speed is the efficiency of motion.”
Move only what needs to be moved, and you save a lot of gas.
Or as a mentor of mine is fond of saying, “slow down! we’re in a hurry here!”
I remember my dad saying this since the early 80s at least. He was in the service in the 60s. He would also say, “If you’re in a hurry, then you don’t have time to rush!”
Everyone walks in, day one, and is dumping adrenaline everywhere they look. I mean, the person in front of you is literally engaging you in practicing murder, so I get it. Everyone starts that way. Super tense, super shallow breathing, and everyone wears themselves out in about 30-40 seconds. Of a 6 minute round.
Doesn’t matter if you’re the most insanely buff dude ever, or seriously overweight. The first guy has better conditioning, no doubt… but not this kind of conditioning. One of my favorite things was watching a new guy walk in, looking like he had maybe 7% body fat, 6’2” at least, plays D1 basketball, and is just nothing but stacked muscle… and then him rolling with a 5’6” 130lb woman who just wipes the floor with him, because training matters more than strength, but even more importantly, breathing and staying calm, slow, and smooth matters even more. The basketball player spends the first minute or so using all his strength to try and get this “puny” girl off of him, unable to, and is now completely gassed. Meanwhile she’s tapped him twice and could go for a run.
Eventually, the most important thing you learn is to relax and breathe. Technique eventually comes, through iteration and lots and lots of practice; eventually, things become second nature.
But breathing? Reminding yourself to relax and roll smart, not fast? That I need to remind myself of most days, because again: you’re facing someone practicing killing you. :)
Good lord, 99% of the words in that article were unnecessary.
I have a hard time believing that this phraseology originated in the military given its historical use in the motorsports community. See Alain Proust, who professed to embody this philosophy. Granted the SEAL community predated Prousts F1 participation, but SeAL tactics were not top of mind in 80s popular culture like they are today.
Haste makes waste - British
Festina lente - Latin (Make haste slowly)
Chi va piano, va sano e va lontano - Italian (Slow and steady wins the race)
Slowly but surely - many cultures, probably dates back to hunter gatherers.
"Slow is smooth, smooth is quick, quick is fast" is the variation I was taught by a military relative. He was a Richard Marcinko fanboi, too, but I don't know if that's related. They all circle a notion we internalize with particular meaning that the words don't ever quite capture, perfectly, but we get the point across.