5 hacks to make speed your next superpower

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5 hacks to make speed your next superpower.

I have just returned from an amazing week with my team at Ulta Beauty where two things happened that inspired me to write this piece on Speed as a superpower. First, I met my skip-level leaders and shared with them my theory on BRAVE leadership, and there we discussed the power of speed. Then at my town hall, we were talking about unleashing your superpowers, then someone asked me what mine was. The answer was simple... Speed!

So do I think we need speed in everything? No. I believe we should sometimes stop, enjoy the moment and just be. However, if you cannot get speed on reoccurring tasks then you leave less time for the good stuff. Life is short. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. So if you believe in maximizing your days and weeks, then learning to crunch the non-essentials will be your unlock. By being strategically faster, you will get to do more of what you want to do, spend more time on your hobbies, and be with your loved ones. Speed if used well, could be your very own superpower.

Speed is NOT something you are born with, rather you learn and harness it with experience. Over the years, I have amped up my strategic speed using a few hacks.

Tip 1: Be truthful with yourself

How many times have you heard yourself say- ‘I just don’t have enough time!’? I said it for years too. I especially said it when it came to working out. But here is the kicker if I am truthful with myself. No one has more time than me to go to the gym. In fact, time is the only equal thing in life, everyone has 24 hours in a day. So, the 1st step is to realize you have the exact same time as others and not to fall into the trap I made years ago by making excuses that I have less of it. It is about how you spend that time, that choice is on you. Focus on improving your choices of where you spend your time versus not having enough time.

Tip 2: Embrace Speed as part of your identity

James Clear talks about this in Atomic habits, that you will not be able to make sustainable changes with habits if they are not congruent with your personal identity. Oprah talks about having mantras to reinforce that. In fact, she tells her story of how she adopted part of the Invictus poem as her mantra.

I adopted speed as a key part of my identity in my early 20’s. Surrounded by incredibly bright P&G'ers, I figured out that perhaps I might not be as smart as some folk, but at least I was faster than them. I even had my own mantra to reinforce it, one which I still use today ‘If you are not Fast, you’re last!’.

So my tip to you, pick a mantra...make it your own, and repeat it and repeat it until you believe it to be the truth.

Tip 3: The 80/20 unlock

After working in fast-paced industries for years, I live by the principle that Done is better than perfect. My simple hack, I classify tasks into 3 buckets. The perfect bucket, the 80/20 bucket, and the 3rd bucket called the tick box bucket where you just need to do it. Once you know your priorities it will be easier to place tasks into those buckets. I argue that the 80/20 and tick box buckets are where you move fast, however in the perfect bucket, that's where you pause and take more time. That is where you slow down. That is where you remember the following:

'Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast'

'Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast', is the mantra of the Navy SEALs. Some tasks will require deliberate and careful consideration and quite frankly time for your mind to develop its thinking on it. Examples can be strategic planning, creative development.

Tip 4: Fear of failure vs Intent to learn

I think you move faster when you are less afraid of failing. So again- if you look at the tasks that you can learn from and build toward your vision then go ahead throw what you have against the wall and see what sticks. The trick though is your intent to learn. If you enter each moment with a learning mindset, you will be more successful in gleaming your learnings and becoming stronger every time you are called to bat. You will try new things every time. You will see that progress every time. More importantly, you will not be paralyzed by the fear of failing.

Tip 5: Differentiate reversible from Irreversible decisions

A widely recognized concept from Jeff Bezos, on how to speed up decision making. Simply categorize is this decision one which I can reverse? You probably do this without realizing. So your opportunity could be to just do it more often with a clear framework. Like the one below.

The approach differentiates between irreversible and reversible decisions lies in the level of commitment and the degree of impact they have on your life. Irreversible decisions require careful consideration and may have long-term consequences, while reversible decisions allow for more exploration and experimentation with less long-term impact. i.e. you can move faster and iterate over time.

By doing this, it will prevent you from wasting time on decisions that are less important or that can be easily reversed if they don't work out.

In summary:

So again, I don't believe we need speed for speed sake or cramming more busy work on your already busy 24 hrs. That is just a stress bomb waiting to go off. We simply need more time to do the things we love and be with the people that bring light in our loves. Life is short. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Speed if used well, could be your very own superpower to enable you to have the career you want and the life you always dreamed of.

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Author: Michelle is the Chief Marketing Officer of Ulta Beauty. Before that, Michelle was the Chief Marketing, Citizenship & Communications officer for Samsung Electronics America and spent 16 years at Procter & Gamble, most of her time in Prestige Beauty, then moved to become the CMO at Vertu, British luxury handmade mobile handsets. For upcoming posts, follow Michelle on LinkedIn and twitter. All statements made, and opinions expressed in this article only reflect her personal opinion.