Mindful Speed – A Paradox?

What Migrating Birds and Hunting Predators Can Teach Us About Optimal Performance

Feb 26, 2025

Hi, I’m Claudia, and I help you to face a hurried world with greater confidence in your “Power of Slow”.

You are reading the sub-section SlowPOWER of the publication Un-Rush-The Power of Slow where I give you insights on the absurdity of rushing and impulses on how slowing down benefits your life and work.

Don’t be shy to share it with fellow rebels against the hurry culture and click the❤️ button, so more people can discover it on Substack. Thank you!

Mindful Speed – A Paradox?

What Migrating Birds and Hunting Predators Can Teach Us About Optimal Performance

When we are stuck in uncertain times (aren’t we always in uncertain times?) and life, work, and the world around us are spinning out of control because everything changes at lightning speed, we have the urge to react immediately. This is a bad move.

You have three options.

One is, that you realize that the activities are happening on purpose in a super-fast modus to make everyone confused, overwhelmed, and almost incapable of reacting or counteracting. You can't extinguish 10 fires around you at the same time. You give up. Not helpful.

The second option is to blindly react without giving it much thought. It's not too clever.

A third suggestion is, that you slow down so you can assess and react accordingly, even quickly, but with care. It might sound like a paradox, but sometimes slowing down first is the key to faster, more effective responses. Let’s explore.

Of course, we have to stay alert and pay attention so we can react or act in a timely fashion. But we can only do that smartly and helpfully when we have a clear mind, understand the context, connect the dots, and know how to move. You have to reach an inner calmness, even serenity in order to (re)act quickly.

Nature offers us perfect examples of this balance between thoughtful consideration and rapid action. An alteration between the two leads to optimal performance.

Let’s look at cheetahs, ants, and birds which show us the smart balance between quick reactions and slower, more deliberate approaches.

The Cheetah's Calculated Sprint

Cheetahs demonstrate explosive speed (0-96 km/h in 3 seconds) for hunting, but this comes at a cost. They must rest extensively after sprints and carefully select when to use their speed. And they don't simply rely on speed alone. Cheetahs carefully select their targets through observation. They position themselves strategically before the chase. They conserve energy by being selective about when to sprint.

The lesson we can learn from those fascinating animals is that even the fastest animal on land understands that preparation and timing outweigh raw speed.

Migratory Birds and Planned Adaptability

Another example are migratory birds, like the Arctic terns, a kind of seabird. They make careful, deliberate seasonal migration plans covering thousands of kilometers, but they can make also split-second adjustments to formation or direction when encountering predators or weather changes. Each year, Arctic terns embark on a round-trip that can cover more than 35,000 km (22,000 miles). It involves multiple stops and destinations along the way and those stopovers serve as a critical refueling stops where the birds can rest, replenish their energy reserves, and exchange stories.

What we can take away from these birds is that the most successful journeys combine thorough preparation with the ability to pivot quickly.

The Collective Wisdom of Ant Colonies

Did you know that ants combine fast reactions and deliberate moves? Ant colonies demonstrate on one side collective "slow thinking" through their ways of communicating about nest locations and food sources. On the other hand, they react immediately and quickly against colony threats.

The lesson we can learn from those tiny creatures is that effective systems require both thoughtful consensus-building and decisive execution.

Transferring The Mindful Speed Paradox to Humans

We can connect these animal examples to human areas such as work, creativity, decision-making, sports, and problem-solving. By recognizing when to slow down and when to accelerate, we can achieve better outcomes across various fields.

Elite Athletes spend years developing precise pre-performance routines. Gymnasts visualize their entire routine before executing it in seconds. Basketball players have consistent free-throw rituals that calm their minds before the split-second release. Or think about combat sports. The most effective fighters are those who create moments of calculated stillness to identify openings before explosive action.

You know already that research consistently shows that our most creative insights often emerge after periods of mental rest. The "eureka moment" typically follows time away from active problem-solving. Innovation and design leaders like IDEO use methodical design thinking processes—observing, defining problems, and ideating before rapid prototyping and testing. Companies including Google and SAP have implemented mindfulness programs after research showed that regular periods of mental quieting lead to more innovative thinking and faster problem-solving.

Here is what you want to remember:

True speed isn't about constant acceleration but about strategic pacing. It comes from a rhythmic alternation between deliberate preparation and decisive action—exactly as we can see in the cheetah's hunt, the ant colony's collective intelligence, and the migratory birds’ journey.

Try To Find You The Strategic Pause

Identify areas in your life where slowing down might paradoxically lead to better, faster results.
Schedule some deep working time.
Extended periods of uninterrupted focus (slow, deep work) enable faster execution of complex tasks instead of constant partial attention.
Implement some strategic morning routines.
This is about minimizing trivial decisions to preserve mental energy for rapid responses on important matters.
Incorporate deliberate recovery periods.
Plan power naps, schedule meditation sessions, or complete disconnection times all of which will help you maintain cognitive speed when it matters most.
Create a system for how you process information.
In our era of information overload, take the time to develop a knowledge-collecting and information-managing system. This will help you to retrieve and apply information much faster than just collecting and consuming without structure.
Create effective digital communication.
Don’t respond instantly to every notification but create systems to batch communications and preserve periods of focused attention.