A week ago I was in a cab to pick up my car when I encountered an interesting cabbie.  I was gazing through the window when the cabbie said (translated), “That guy is walking really slow.”

Me : huh?

Cabbie : That guy crossing the road…. he’s walking exceptionally slow.

You see, we were at a junction where pedestrians were crossing right in front of us.

Me : uh huh…

Cabbie : You know, people who walk slowly never achieve anything in life.

Me : oh….. ok… (well I try not to generalize so easily…)

Cabbie : When they walk slowly, they tend to do all other things slowly as well – they eat slower, they read slower, they get work done slower than others.  They will not be as successful as those who walk faster.  If you have friends like that, try to change them.  If they don’t change, leave them or they will drag you down too.

Me : Quite true.. by the way, my destination is right in front, you can drop me here.

And honestly, I agree that there is a lot of truth in what he said.  People who achieve things usually have a sense of urgency.  They want to get things done quickly.  The way you think is reflected in the little unconscious things that you do – like your walking speed.   Of course, I’m not saying we should be Usain Bolts every 100m we walk but we need to discipline ourselves to move faster towards our goals.   After all, time is scarce and we all want to achieve our goals sooner rather than later.

For me, I walked faster from that day onwards.