Slow Down Ricky Bobby!

March 7, 2009 8:17 PM

I go too fast at work. How do I slow down?

Literally, I go too fast. I rush through things, and then the quality of my work suffers. I try to slow down, but I end up getting comfortable and speeding back up again. And then I get yelled at. And then I'm frustrated.

How can I permanently slow down, so I'm paying attention to detail, reviewing my work for stupid/silly mistakes, etc.?

posted by toaster to work & money (11 comments total)

Why do you go too fast? What do you do? More info is needed. The advice could be really different based on whether you assemble nuclear detonation devices, review IRS forms, drive a bus, cook in a diner....
posted by Miko at 8:21 PM on March 7

Yeah, you've got to tell us what you do.
posted by Netzapper at 8:22 PM on March 7

Hmm.

Make checklists for yourself. Randomize your checking procedure, so that you aren't tempted to skip points.

Make appropriate benchmarks of accuracy and precision (this takes wisdom), then increase them when you have reached a satisfactory speed.

Spend time creating a technological aid in the checking process (code that validates your answer).

Dedicate a fixed clock time to a task, no matter what.

--

I have the same problem, and have thought about all these steps but not taken them. Actually for me a bigger problem is being satisfied with sloppy work. I am working on never dismissing a quibble, never skipping a step.
posted by gensubuser at 8:49 PM on March 7

Make yourself a checklist. Force yourself to follow it.

Finish task.
Check task. Thoroughly. Not just glance at it and say, 'looks ok'. Approach task from a different angle, do you get the same result? Do Not say task is complete until you have properly checked it. Every line. Pretend you're your supervisor. It's the same type of mistakes every time, so check for those.
posted by defcom1 at 8:54 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]

If you work at a computer, maybe a reminder alarm would work. For example, you could use something like TimeOut to give you a 15-second break every 10 minutes, which will stop your momentum. When the 15-second break is over, you can make it a habit to check what you did in the previous 10 minutes before you go full speed ahead again.
posted by PatoPata at 9:11 PM on March 7

It sounds like there are gaps in whatever your workflow is where there isn't enough QA on either the inputs or the outputs. You don't necessarily need to slow down - you need to have additional QA on your work, either through a series of checklists (THAT YOU USE) or by running it through someone else. Odds are good that the latter is out of the question, so take a bit of time and come up with common things that get missed, then go over them again after generating your work.
posted by squorch at 9:13 PM on March 7 [1 favorite]

Mindfulness.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:14 PM on March 7

For reviewing something you've written, reading it out loud helps a lot.
posted by winston at 9:28 PM on March 7

Is there a deeper psychological cause for your rushing? I used to be (and sometimes I am still) in a hurry because I constantly had the feeling to make up time I wasted before. It might be that you are in a hurry because you want to compensate for the times you failed. Consequently, before you can do anything about your behaviour, you need to find out the reason behind it. Try to keep a diary at work and write down how you feel when you rush or how you feel when you get yelled at.
posted by jfricke at 4:10 AM on March 8

I do the same thing. I haven't really been able to stop going so fast, but I have developed a way to catch my mistakes. I refuse to hand in/hit send/whatever the final step of the task is, and I let it sit there for a couple hours (not just ten minutes, or even an hour - has to be a long time). Then I review the instructions, review my work, and make it better.
posted by Shebear at 7:16 AM on March 8

I find reading my work out loud is helpful. Of course, this works well for a lawyer or jounalist, not so well for a software engineer or accountant.
posted by bananafish at 11:51 AM on March 10