They lied to us. They told us that slow and sure was the way to go. You remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. In the story the hare is sure of himself and races on ahead of the tortoise. The hare knows he will win and takes a nap only to find that while he was sleeping the tortoise wins.
In life we are supposed to do the job right and take the slow and steady course. Unfortunately in real life the people who matter (or think they matter) will always pick the person who appears to be doing well and criticizing the one who takes it slow, but makes sure to do the job right.
I don't know how many times I have worked at a job that is more concerned about impression and had no concern for substance. The management even invites cheating. They tell the workers that they are looking at performance numbers. Do you know how easy it is to make the numbers look good, but not do a good job. Unfortunately I don't. I have always tried to do the job right. For years I didn't even know that I was failing in the eyes of the bosses. Now I know, but I just can't bring myself to cheat.
Another way that we are taking the fast way to cheat is in our finances. I am sure that people are wondering why we are in the financial mess we are in. Everything that we have done with our finances where we are making money or getting things quickly have contributed to the problem. There are a few exceptions. The company that finds that one thing that everyone wants (a story, a web site, a TV show...), and they make it rich quickly. The problem is that is the exception and not the rule. People buy things that they don't need (I have never paid more than $200 dollars for a TV). Take a second on their house to take a vacation.
Companies get into the same trouble and try to make it big too fast. Wall Street and the Banks also got into the act. The most interesting thing is that they are surprised that we are in the worst economic time since the great depression. I remember the great internet bubble a few years ago. I actually got involved in that. I knew that it was a big bubble that was ready to burst, but I also knew that the internet was something that would last. I also worked for internet companies that were into selling on the internet. I wanted to know that side of the business. I wasn't doing it so I could become rich (not that I would have turned down the money).
So in the long run slow and steady will win the race. The Hares got rich and fat and didn't see the crash coming. The tortoises saw it coming, but who listens to us. I understand why they want to fix it quick. It is like a patient who is brought into the emergency room. At first the doctors are taking drastic measures to save his life. Next they rush him to the operating room and perform emergency. This is a little less drastic, but still they are taking extreme measures. After that the patient is given drugs and treatment that is temporary and will bring him back to a somewhat normal state. Unfortunately we will stop right here in our financial mess. We may even stop at the Operating Room step. There is a third step. We need to change our lifestyle. The patient needs to eat right, exercise and get good sleep.
This will not happen. Our world is not ready to stop being excessive in how it spends, in its lifestyle. Our government won't let it happen. Big business won't let it happen. The rich won't let it happen. We need power. We need to keep big companies big and powerful. We need to keep the rich and help them to get richer. They need to do it fast and easy. Slow and steady is for losers - but not for me, I'll still go slow and easy, doing it right as best I can.
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