Today's Marketing Cookie - Haste Makes Waste

Today's fortune came from Bob Cargill of Sudbury, MA. Bob is a copywriter, creative director and social media consultant who was named the New England Direct Marketing Association's "Direct Marketer of the Year" in 2009. The people who know him best say Bob takes great pride in his work, always presents himself with utmost professionalism and is one of those people you don't forget. I encourage you to follow Bob on Twitter: @cargillcreative

Today's Marketing Cookie is about taking time to work faster.

I suppose most people are familiar with the famous words written by Benjamin Franklin, "haste makes waste". Moreover, most would agree with the big, huge truth held within this tiny, little proverb. You, like me, have made a mess of things at one time or another, by trying to work, walk or speak too quickly. You can't frost a cake while it's still baking. You shouldn't try to play ice hockey on the pond, before it freezes. And, under no circumstances, should you ever put on your boots, before you've put on your pants. Little value is gained in doing things before their time.

It takes a long time to make work go faster. It also takes hard work, to make hard work easier. Long term thinking, careful planning, arduous testing, and tedious tinkering are often part of the formula for gaining speed. Henry Ford set land speed record with the mass production of his Model T, but his assembly line still had to be assembled.

We live in a real-time world, and our clients need to meet the real-time demands of their customers, but unreasonable rushing without a roadmap is a direct road to error. I don't need to remind anyone that fixing screw-ups, calling for do-overs, and cleaning messes are anything but fast. Try not to look when it happens, because foolish errors may just be the slowest thing in the world to watch.

Remember, it wasn't producing a car every 93 minutes that made Mr. Ford successful. No. That is only just the result. Rather, it was the long hours of planning, and hard work that made the results possible. Take time to plan your work, and then work your plan. Believe me, if from the beginning, you plan for the end, you'll get there faster... and safer!  As today's fortune says, "Haste does not bring success."

PS: There are but three exceptions to this rule in my estimation. Haste should be avoided unless you need to say, "Thank you.", "I love you", or "I'm sorry."  For these three phrases, there is no good reason to delay.