{"id":6025,"date":"2025-03-03T01:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T01:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=6025"},"modified":"2025-03-03T01:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T01:38:11","slug":"lento-pero-seguro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/03\/03\/lento-pero-seguro\/","title":{"rendered":"Slowly but surely"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think I\u00b4ve mentioned this before: I\u00b4ve been going through a really busy period at work, and this past week, to be honest, has been more of the same. Sometimes I get frustrated, because I see my day (or my week, or my month) flying past, and I find it difficult to carve out time and energy to make progress on my personal projects. Does this sound familiar? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I'm living in this kind of paradox where I\u00b4m simultaneously moving very fast and very slow: running at full speed in my day-to-day tasks, \"playing Tetris with my calendar\", like I told a colleague of mine the other day, and being super slow with other tasks I would like to dedicate more \"bandwidth\" to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, the Universe keeps sending me clues and reminders every now and then, for example in the shape of quotes I come across during the week, which I can share with you all and reflect on here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first quote talks about going fast; I read it in English, and I loved it. The Spanish translation I found sounded a bit strange to me, so I wrote my own version, I hope it's easy to understand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.<\/p>Socrates<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a society where \"being super busy\" is seen as something positive, almost a sign of status, we sometimes forget that rushing not only leaves us physically and mentally exhausted, it also forces us to stay superficial. In order to be able to do a good job at a task requiring certain depth (reflection, creativity, focus...) we need to slow down, cut down the number of tasks and dedicate longer periods of time to them, without distractions. If we link this to the Eisenhower matrix<\/a> we touched on a few weeks ago, the key is to leave more space for strategic tasks (important but not urgent) that help us to feel fulfilled and make progress towards our goals (starting with proper self-care<\/a>), instead of spending so much time \"putting out fires\" (paying attention to whatever urgent things happen to be in front of us, whether they're important or not).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second quote talks about going slowly, and you can say it louder, but not clearer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.<\/p>Chines proverb<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We live in a society when immediacy rules. We're used to being able to get everything quickly, and we don't like waiting, so we have less and less patience, which can be problematic when it comes to setting medium\/long term goals and working towards them. It's easy to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves with others who have already achieved it, or who are further along the same path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here's where I think it's important to remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare, which shows us how consistency and perseverance are much more important than speed. Moreover, depending on the type of \"race\" (or, now that I think about it, probably in all of them), crossing the finish line too soon is not such a good idea, because the learning and growth happen along the way, as one gets more and more experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it\u00b4s OK to go slowly, it may even be best option. But what about standing still? My interpretation is that it\u00b4s a warning for us not to rest on our laurels, as the hare did in the story. Because when we stop walking towards where we want to go, we stagnate, we stop learning, and even if it seems like we\u00b4re staying in the same place, the reality is that we\u00b4re lagging behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
(Photo of a street tribute to the hare and the tortoise from Aesop\u00b4s famous fable; I stumbled upon them while walking around in Boston years ago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, what about you? Do you feel a bit like a hare at the moment? Or maybe a tortoise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creo que ya os hab\u00eda comentado que llevo una temporada de mucho l\u00edo en el trabajo, y esta semana la verdad es que ha sido m\u00e1s de lo mismo. A veces me resulta frustrante, porque veo que el d\u00eda (o la semana, o el mes) se me queda en nada, y que me cuesta sacar … Continue reading Slowly but surely<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":6023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Lento pero seguro \/ Slowly but surely","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Despacito y con buena letra \/ Slow and steady wins the race","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4990,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiracion-inspiration","category-general","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-1zb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":213,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2021\/06\/10\/equilibrando\/","url_meta":{"origin":6025,"position":0},"title":"Balancing","author":"binarybea","date":"10\/06\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00bfOs ha pasado alguna vez que el d\u00eda se os queda corto? \u00bfQue ya se os ha hecho de noche y ten\u00e9is a\u00fan una lista de cosas que os gustar\u00eda hacer? \u00bfY que os cuesta elegir qu\u00e9 hacer hoy y qu\u00e9 dejar para otro d\u00eda? Esa soy yo en este\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reflexiones"","block_context":{"text":"Reflexiones","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"notebook","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pexels-photo-1226398.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pexels-photo-1226398.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pexels-photo-1226398.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pexels-photo-1226398.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/pexels-photo-1226398.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2322,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2023\/05\/22\/gustar-o-no-gustar\/","url_meta":{"origin":6025,"position":1},"title":"Being liked... Or not","author":"binarybea","date":"22\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Esta semana se han cumplido dos a\u00f1itos desde que empez\u00f3 la nueva andadura de BinaryWords :-) Si me preguntaran por qu\u00e9 escribo este blog, me llevar\u00eda un rato pensar la respuesta. Hay muchas razones, y una de ellas es que me encanta escribir: es un proceso creativo que me aporta\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reflexiones"","block_context":{"text":"Reflexiones","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a hand showing thumbs up. In the backgound we can see the arm and torso of a man in a suit and tie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/pexels-photo-684385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/pexels-photo-684385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/pexels-photo-684385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/pexels-photo-684385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/pexels-photo-684385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5313,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2024\/11\/11\/poniendome-al-dia-o-al-menos-intentandolo\/","url_meta":{"origin":6025,"position":2},"title":"Catching up (or at least trying to)","author":"binarybea","date":"11\/11\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Estos \u00faltimos d\u00edas he tenido mucho l\u00edo en el trabajo, y tambi\u00e9n en casa. Por suerte, la mayor\u00eda ha sido l\u00edo \u00abdel bueno\u00bb: proyectos que me ilusionan, conversaciones interesantes, encuentros con amigos y actividades en familia. Pero no deja de ser mucho l\u00edo, para m\u00ed que soy m\u00e1s bien tranquila\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inspiraci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a wall clock","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_20240916_080129-1708792405-e1731274132170.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_20240916_080129-1708792405-e1731274132170.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_20240916_080129-1708792405-e1731274132170.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_20240916_080129-1708792405-e1731274132170.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_20240916_080129-1708792405-e1731274132170.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9036,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/04\/27\/un-pie-delante-de-otro\/","url_meta":{"origin":6025,"position":3},"title":"One foot in front of the other","author":"binarybea","date":"27\/04\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Empezamos una nueva semana, y yo me la imagino como una hoja en blanco que ir rellenando d\u00eda a d\u00eda, a ser posible con buena letra. A veces, hay temporadas en que la vida no da para mucho m\u00e1s que para ir haciendo lo imprescindible cada d\u00eda. Y eso est\u00e1\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inspiraci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20250423_180106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20250423_180106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20250423_180106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20250423_180106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20250423_180106.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7669,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/09\/01\/blogueando-que-es-gerundio\/","url_meta":{"origin":6025,"position":4},"title":"Blogging forever","author":"binarybea","date":"01\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hace poco me he enterado de que tal d\u00eda como hoy, 31 de agosto, se celebra World Blog Day, el d\u00eda mundial de los blogs (no confundir con el d\u00eda internacional de los blogueros, que por lo visto ya se celebr\u00f3 el d\u00eda 5 de este mismo mes). Y la\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/diario-journal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of a book for kids in Spanish, \"The secret life of Rebecca Paradise\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_20250829_091428-e1756676493611.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_20250829_091428-e1756676493611.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_20250829_091428-e1756676493611.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_20250829_091428-e1756676493611.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_20250829_091428-e1756676493611.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6516,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/05\/04\/todo-lo-que-tenemos\/","url_meta":{"origin":6025,"position":5},"title":"All we get","author":"binarybea","date":"04\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Esta semana se me ha pasado volando, \u00a1Ya es domingo otra vez! Y para cuando le\u00e1is esto, ser\u00e1 probablemente lunes. (Foto de un reloj muy chulo que hay a la puerta de un pub en el aeropuerto de Dubl\u00edn) Para variar, ando con bastante l\u00edo, y no tengo mucho tiempo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inspiraci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a three-faced clock with the letters \"THE GATE CLOCK\" underneath","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wp-17463435377313339948937827349903-e1746343891871.jpg?fit=1200%2C1131&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wp-17463435377313339948937827349903-e1746343891871.jpg?fit=1200%2C1131&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wp-17463435377313339948937827349903-e1746343891871.jpg?fit=1200%2C1131&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wp-17463435377313339948937827349903-e1746343891871.jpg?fit=1200%2C1131&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wp-17463435377313339948937827349903-e1746343891871.jpg?fit=1200%2C1131&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img_20191110_152918_9159202366184049464617.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3116429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6025"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6037,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025\/revisions\/6037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}