Can you do that a little faster?

October 4, 2011 in Business Start-Up, Just a Job with 28 Comments

This morning the local electric company showed up to dig the hole for a new pole on our property.  They had already determined the hole would be going through rock so they brought in the right truck to do the job.  As an old farm boy I was fascinated so I picked their brains for some interesting information. There are only 8 of these trucks in the world.  They cost $500,000 each.  But one guy drilled the hole through solid rock in less than 20 minutes.  The old way would have taken 3 men 4 days.  They calculate a monetary payback of $1,000,000 within 3 years in saved labor and equipment time.

However, faster is not always better.  When wells are drilled in Africa it sometimes destroys the camaraderie of the village women who walked together each day for fresh water.  I grew up in Amish farming community where they still plow with horses and quilt by hand, even though tractors and quilting machines are available.  Walking to the mailbox at the end our long lane provides benefits that cannot be measured by time or gasoline savings.

How do you make decisions about speed, improvements, and modernization in your work and personal life?  What “advancements” have you rejected and why?

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  • Bernard Haynes

    I am rejecting having to be connected 24/7. We are a society that is moving at fast break speeds. We actually don’t have time to stop and smell the coffee. I am seeing more and more people burned out, frustrated and exhausted. The pursuit for faster and 24/7 connection has left a lot of people disconnected from meaning relationships that takes time and effort. Slowing down can be a great physical, mental, social, financial and relational benefit.

    • Anonymous

      Bernard – unfortunately those new gadgets can make us think we need to use them all.  There’s a lot to be said for riding a bicycle even if you have a Porsche in the garage.

  • Waynewelborn

    I own and operate my own trucking company. I choose to stay away from newer “better” equipment because cost of maintence is too high with all the emission devices that california has forced on the industry. I also drive 55mph everywhere I go instead of 70-75. This may seem like u would make less money, but the slower speed increases mpg by almost 2mpg. That saves almost $20000 a year in fuel. Plus less wear and tear on equipment and at the end of the day I have driven the same miles but am less fatigued due to stay below the STRESSFUL flow of traffic. While most truckers are complaining about fuel prices, I couldn’t care less what the price of fuel is because my company is winning against the odds!!

    • Anonymous

      Wayne – what a great perspective.  I hear lots of truckers complaining as they go in debt another $100,000 for the latest truck and then push the speed limit one more day.  I like your view.  

  • http://TeamEagleRevolution.com Bryan Hart

    I like boardgames, real books, and providing meat for my family through hunting (preferably on the ground and away from a treestand/blind). When it comes to camping…I would die if I only used a “camper.”

    Many conveniences seem to take the experience and fun out of the journey.

    PS. My wife says the pic is “cute.” :)

    • Anonymous

      Bryan – yep you got it.  We can use conveniences to remove the desired experience.  

    • beach guy

      There is a big difference between quantity of time saved and the quality of the experience and time.  The quality of the experience will be long remembered.  We should all remember the simple and little things in life are the best.  There’s nothing like holding the book and reading it while planting your feet in the sand at the beach while listening to the sounds of the ocean waves lapping and crashing onshore.  An ipod or wii game will never replace a day at the beach like that!!

  • http://www.mary-kathan.com Mary

    I rarely have my cell phone with me.  It drives other people crazy when I do not answer the phone.  I do not want to be interrupted while in the middle of a task. 

    The cell phone is turned off when I hike in the woods. I just want to be enjoying nature and getting excercise.

    I like to talk to people, but not at any given moment of my day.  

    • Anonymous

      Mary – I love your description of how you “use” your cell phone.  Too often it seems people are being used by their phones. Thanks for a great reminder.

  • Don Roulo

    Dan,
    I keep hearing these words in my head, “this device will save you time, so you can do the things you want to do.”  How many of us look at all the gadgets we have bought in the last 20 plus years to save us time so we could spend more time taking a walk, reading a book or playing with the family.  My observation is all these devices and gadgets may have saved us time, but somehow we ended up being busier!!

    Our family will be leaving in a few weeks to come to Tennesee for vacation…a very well deserved one I might add.  My wife will NOT be bringing her cell phone.  It is her business line for catering.  We will leave a message that we are unavailable and will get back to you at a certain date.  If they can’t wait and we lose a person or two’s business…oh well.  We will take one cell phone for emergencies only.  We will shut it off or not bring it for most of our time together.

    I have done a lot of business in Amish homes over the last 10 years…I live relatively close to Shipshewana, Indiana.  I always have noticed how much time they do spend together and envy that part of their life.

    I just can’t get over how much busier we are now than we were 20 years ago when we didn’t have all the time saving devices and being plugged in…we need to “unplug” more often so we can build the most important thing in life…relationships.

  • Don Roulo

    Dan,
    I keep hearing these words in my head, “this device will save you time, so you can do the things you want to do.”  How many of us look at all the gadgets we have bought in the last 20 plus years to save us time so we could spend more time taking a walk, reading a book or playing with the family.  My observation is all these devices and gadgets may have saved us time, but somehow we ended up being busier!!

    Our family will be leaving in a few weeks to come to Tennesee for vacation…a very well deserved one I might add.  My wife will NOT be bringing her cell phone.  It is her business line for catering.  We will leave a message that we are unavailable and will get back to you at a certain date.  If they can’t wait and we lose a person or two’s business…oh well.  We will take one cell phone for emergencies only.  We will shut it off or not bring it for most of our time together.

    I have done a lot of business in Amish homes over the last 10 years…I live relatively close to Shipshewana, Indiana.  I always have noticed how much time they do spend together and envy that part of their life.

    I just can’t get over how much busier we are now than we were 20 years ago when we didn’t have all the time saving devices and being plugged in…we need to “unplug” more often so we can build the most important thing in life…relationships.

    • Anonymous

      Don – I still get to visit my Amish relatives occasionally.  Not too long ago we joined one of my cousins over in west Tennessee and her nine children and countless grandchildren.  We enjoyed a weekday full of sharing stories, eating great food and playing softball.  No one was rushed or taking urgent phone calls.  I need a day like that now and then – thanks for the reminder.

    • Anonymous

      Don – I still get to visit my Amish relatives occasionally.  Not too long ago we joined one of my cousins over in west Tennessee and her nine children and countless grandchildren.  We enjoyed a weekday full of sharing stories, eating great food and playing softball.  No one was rushed or taking urgent phone calls.  I need a day like that now and then – thanks for the reminder.

  • Courtney

    We plant a garden every year, and instead of using a tiller to turn the earth, we break out the shovels and the mattocks. It takes much longer, but it gives me and my wife time together. Now that my kids are old enough, they get involved and it shows our children the value of hard labor…and it makes us appreciate the other advances we enjoy on a daily basis.

    • Anonymous

      Oh I love that example.  I’m sure you could hire a guy with a tractor and plow to do it in 20 minutes – but you’d miss the rich experience.  Thanks for sharing that.

  • http://fulloffire.wordpress.com/ Sam

    I have actually disconnected my Facebook account in order to be able to have real relationships. My wife and I recently moved across country to get plugged into a specific church and after taking a break from FB for a week, I realized how shallow it made my relationships and my thought processes. As an introvert I need a small group of deep relationships and social media does not allow for that. I now know less about a lot of people but I honestly don’t care that much since I don’t have an active relationship with them anyway.

    The only really good thing about FB is that it was instrumental in getting my wife and I together and for the long-distance relationship we had before we got married. Now? Not so much…

    • Anonymous

      Sam – yep, Facebook is another of those phenomena where we thought more must be better.  Sometimes more is less.  

  • http://fulloffire.wordpress.com/ Sam

    I have actually disconnected my Facebook account in order to be able to have real relationships. My wife and I recently moved across country to get plugged into a specific church and after taking a break from FB for a week, I realized how shallow it made my relationships and my thought processes. As an introvert I need a small group of deep relationships and social media does not allow for that. I now know less about a lot of people but I honestly don’t care that much since I don’t have an active relationship with them anyway.

    The only really good thing about FB is that it was instrumental in getting my wife and I together and for the long-distance relationship we had before we got married. Now? Not so much…

  • http://www.andytraub.com Andy Traub

    I’ve rejected getting an iPhone because I would be connected ALL THE TIME to the net, newspapers, email, skype…oh yeah, and it’s a phone. Hard to say no to it but I think myfamily is better for it.

    • Anonymous

      Andy – didn’t I see you the other day in your horse and buggy?  I love the fact that we can still choose — no one is forcing us to have the latest technology.  

  • Chris Morse

    I do use an iPhone, it lets me get my work taken care of efficiently and quickly. It’s another tool to help me run my businesses. It allows me to take time for the things I value. I go fishing with my son and grandsons, and I take the time to can most of the vegetables we eat all year. Yeah, O could buy Organic high quality food at the store, but the satisfaction of the simple act of storing food for my family for the coming year is exhilerating. I don’t have time for farming, but I have made friends of all the farmers @ our Farmer’s Market here in Franklin. I probably pay more for the food this way, but it’s better for us and you eat less when it’s nutrient-rich, and we get the added benefit of healthier living. 

    • Anonymous

      Chris – you are absolutely right.  With all the choices, at some point we simply have to make wise choices for ourselves and not get caught up in the common push for more of everything.

  • Anon in GA

    I refuse to take part in any social networking site.  It’s disturbing to hear how people feel they are staying in touch with others just by reading their updates online. 

    • Anonymous

      Social networking sites are still in their infancy.  I suspect they will look a lot different ten years from now.

  • Marty Wenger

    I still decline call-waiting, call-forwarding, and caller-id.  I appreciate straight-forward uninterrupted communication, one person at a time.  And the best phone in my house is a desk-style rotary-dial black telephone circa 1940.  I also decline to use a microwave; anything I need to cook quickly can be done with my top-grade pots & pans over a gas flame while I’m doing something else in the kitchen.  I keep these “technology limits” as a sort of pace-setter, so that I keep time to think, ponder, and appreciate.  And I don’t trust today’s microwave doors to prevent wave-leaks any better than the originals that were admitted to be leaking years after they were touted as always safe.  I may not appear 100% consistent to an observer, but my self-imposed limitations are working fine for me.

    • Anonymous

      Marty – the power in your response is the reminder that we still do have choices.  No one HAS TO accept or pay for the latest, greatest gadgets.  I find a lot of people are moving back to more simplicity – and the richness that always provided for our lives.

  • Jcole

    This post reminds me of a book I read recently entitled “Henry and the Great Society”.  The main character and his family get caught up in all the so called time-saving devices and end up disconnected and depressed.  You can read the book as a .pdf at http://www.jesuslovesme.org/newWeb/media/PDF_BOOKS/HENRY%20AND%20THE%20GREAT%20SOCIETY.pdf.  I read it electronically and then ended up ordering several copies online to give away.  Short book and a good read.

    • Anonymous

      Oh that is a wonderful little book indeed.  I highly recommend it.  Thanks for sharing the direct link for “Henry and the Great Society.”

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