Communication Basics: The Tortoise and the Hare Story isn't True Even if Fictional

Listen to these phrases:

     let's rest for a second

     let's sprint for a minute

     let's run for an hour

     let's walk for today

Please note the combination of speed variations with the variety of time frames.  They vary accordingly.  So which is better resting or walking?  The question seems a little crazy doesn't it, because in context neither is better than the other.  But all four paces or speeds are necessary.  My point is that you need to be able to have different speeds to do well.  

What is missing in so many discussions of big topics like manic-depression is the basics.  We too often don't start there, but at the pinnacle of what we know and sufficiently complicate it so that no one knows what we are really saying.  So let's not begin first with the meaning of manic-depression. Let's start with some more basic questions than even those presented above.

Let's start out with a first question you could ask grade school children.  It is: 

Which is better fast or slow?

I can hear the children shouting out: Fast!  

Let's ask a second question, but this time of children who are older like junior highers.  It is:

Is it better to vary your speed or to always be at the same speed?  

I can hear the students shouting: Vary!

Finally, let's ask some high schools to put this altogether.  Which is better fast and steady, fast and variable, slow and steady, or slow and variable?  

I believe they would combine fast and variable together and regard that combination as the best.  The thing that I think is overlooked is what I learned in track.  It is the person who gets to the finish line first who wins, not the person who exceeded their body's speed limits for the full distance.  The body and the mind have limitations on them depending on the distance to be traveled.  It is about the destination first and the time allowed second.  It is about our matching pace third.  

A distance runner is a lot like a sprinter - both are going their fastest to get to a destination.  The difference is that they are able to run or sprint in a different gear than the other.  They establish a comfortable winning pace for their race.  Even sprinters vary how they run a 100 meter, 200 meter, and a 400 meter race.  They are not the same  in terms of which gear you use to run that respective race.  But all are at your fastest possible pace, if you desire to win.  

That is more easily seen in the case of distance runners - the pace is critical to winning the race - to getting to the finish line first.  The goal is not to be the fastest - then you would run the same speed as a sprinter and crash and burn - the goal is to be the first to the finish line.  So fast here is relative to the distance and the time allowed.  Fast varies.  

We don't allow a sprinter to run the 100 in 2 minutes.  We also don't expect the miler to run the mile in 2 minutes.  Yet both racers can win their respective races with faster paces and shorter times than others in their same race.  That is why I think the rule is fast and variable.   I agree with my high school track teammates.  

The story of the Tortoise and the Hare is very distorting of the honest truth.  The reality is that the hare would have won had he had a warning system to resume his run following his rest periods.  The other thing is that the race distance favored the tortoise.

The problem is that this story places in some minds the idea that slow and steady is favorable.  I don't think it is.  The goal in track is to run as fast as you can within your capacity.  It is not to go as slow as you can.  You are not running so as to win the race, when you run slow.  That does not mean it can't be a variance of fast that helps the most and is the healthiest.  

Manic depression comes from too fast BUT not from fast.  Likewise procrastination comes from too slow or not fast enough.  We must avoid both traps in order to measure up to what every high school student knows - all they have to do is walk to a friendly track meet.  I sure wish more people did!  We would have more people practicing fast and variable.  Run your pace to the race and rest, sprint, run, or walk your way to victory over manic-depression or procrastination-regret!

Sincerely,

Jon