--- title: Chinese Bamboo - Take the Time & Slow Down description: Chinese Bamboo - Take the Time & Slow Down image: https://www.shiftthework.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/chinese-bamboo-painting-1.jpg --- [![Shift The Work](https://www.shiftthework.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Shift_The_Work_July2018/images/new-shift-logo-mobile.png?width=300&height=328&name=new-shift-logo-mobile.png "Shift The Work")](https://www.shiftthework.com/) - [About](https://www.shiftthework.com/about-shift/) - [Blog](https://www.shiftthework.com/blog) - [Latch](https://www.shiftthework.com/latch) - [CONSULTING](https://www.shiftthework.com/shift-consulting) - [SOCIETY](https://www.shiftthework.com/shift-society/) [![Shift The Work](https://www.shiftthework.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Shift_The_Work_July2018/images/new-shift-logo-mobile.png?width=300&height=328&name=new-shift-logo-mobile.png "Shift The Work")](https://www.shiftthework.com/) [![Shift The Work](https://www.shiftthework.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Shift_The_Work_July2018/images/new-shift-logo.png?width=348&height=348&name=new-shift-logo.png "Shift The Work")](https://www.shiftthework.com/) - [About](https://www.shiftthework.com/about-shift/) - [Blog](https://www.shiftthework.com/blog) - [Latch](https://www.shiftthework.com/latch) - [CONSULTING](https://www.shiftthework.com/shift-consulting) - [SOCIETY](https://www.shiftthework.com/shift-society/) [← Return to Posts](https://www.shiftthework.com/blog) # Chinese Bamboo - Take the Time & Slow Down May 5, 2016 *•* [Joe Mechlinski](https://www.shiftthework.com/blog/author/joe-mechlinski) In a recent conversation with one of our favorite clients, it dawned on me. The tortoise was right – slow and steady might win the race. But for the Type A’s reading this, how can you tell us by slowing down we can actually get it right? Or get more done for that matter? One of my mentors recently told me – “Joe, it’s not just about doing more with less… but the less that matters more.” (Did I listen - maybe?) There are a ton of adages like this – for example they also say mastery is not about doing 4000 things 7 times… but about doing 7 things 4000 times. It also reminds me of the Chinese Bamboo Story: ![Chinese bamboo painting](https://www.shiftthework.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/chinese-bamboo-painting-1.jpg?height=98&name=chinese-bamboo-painting-1.jpg) Plant a bamboo sprout in the ground, and for 4 or 5 years (sometimes much longer) nothing happens! You water and fertilize, water and fertilize, water and fertilize—but you see no visible evidence that anything is happening. Then, along comes year five. In a six-week period the Chinese bamboo tree grows to a staggering ninety feet tall! World Book Encyclopedia records that one bamboo plant can grow three feet in a simple twenty-four-hour period. It seems incredible that a plant that lies dormant for years can suddenly explode with growth, but it happens without fail with bamboo trees. The same principle is true for us. Maybe you are waiting for that big sale to come in or for your cool new sales strategy to pay off ten fold. Or maybe you are building the roots you need to grow your company to 90-feet in one year. Everyone wants it NOW – the real question is can you have the patience, commitment and trust to see it through. 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