Slow cooking, slow thinking, slow moving and slow reading: These ideas pull at me. I want everything simpler and richer. Less is more, it’s not about quantity but quality, about the essence of our thinking and our lives.
So why does it usually stay just words? Why does everything still run “rush rush”?
When everything speeds up and we stop chewing, just swallowing everything whole before shoving in the next big chunk, we digest nothing. All the mental nutrients, inspiration, life force — it sits there unprocessed, waiting to be expelled. We literally turn sour, even though we’re constantly doing something, staying active.
What do you actually lose when you slow down and focus on what matters?
Take reading. When did you last deliberately read slowly, really engaging with the author’s words, chewing on them longer? What sticks from speed-reading by comparison? And if nothing remains except a “feeling”, why do it at all?
I ask myself this constantly. For my Scrum training, I bought far too many books and devoured them frantically because I found the topic so fascinating. But honestly? I bought those books from insecurity. I thought mere ownership would help me project more confidence in job interviews and my first role as Scrum Master or Product Owner.
The skimming and cramming got me through my Scrum certifications. I built a kind of roadmap of agile topics to keep on my radar. What’s missing is depth and practical application.
That only comes when I seriously reduce speed and work through the books slowly, deeply, converting what I read into applied knowledge for myself.
I’ve now grouped and prioritised the books thematically. I’ll work through the most valuable and interesting ones (that’s what the skimming was for) slowly and deeply. I’ll share my thoughts on individual books here in my notes — though it might take a while since I don’t know how long this slow-reading process will take.
Won’t be boring, that’s for certain.
Originally published auf Deutsch at reinergaertner.de (est. 1997, older than Google). AI helped translate this. I helped introduce the errors.