My word for 2020: Pace

My word for 2020 is "Pace".

I talked about this a bit in Heidleberg, in 2018, but it´s something I've come back to, as ever more strongly.

Starting out it was always the start-up mentality of "Go fast and break things" (That´s Facebook's right.) Too many Paul Graham Essays. Too much early-2000s tech culture. A fair dose of just being young. It took me many years to learn that anything worth doing takes ages.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint", and we have to set ourselves up for that. Small efforts accumulate. Start small. Grow slowly, and sustainably. Pace yourself. Can I do this indefinitely?

And so "Pace".

In many philosophies they say it's the journey, or the practice, that is important, rather than the destination, or the result. Once you take a longer view, and a notion of pacing yourself, that perspective becomes compelling. You have to drop the thought that after just this push you're going to somehow get there.

Your focus then is self re-enforcing. There's nowhere particular we're getting to any place soon. So we may as well enjoy the ride. So we may as well slow down a notch and get the most from it. And in so doing we will go much further.

And so "Pace".

Do you have a word for 2020?