Haste is blind and improvident. – Seneca
Reflection
Rushing feels useful right up until it creates twice the work.
You squash one bug and watch three crawl out.
What made sense locally falls apart in prod.
You miss the edge case. You leave a TODO. The quick path gets buried.
You've seen it. So have I.
A "quick" push becomes a rollback.
You saved a few minutes. Then lost an afternoon chasing what speed buried.
Seneca warned, "Haste is blind and improvident."
He was right.
Move fast, and you miss what's right in front of you.
You jump in, assume it'll hold, and hope the tests catch it.
But code doesn't care how fast you write it.
It either holds or it doesn't.
Being patient doesn't mean dragging your feet.
It means choosing your next line as it matters.
It's how you catch the bug before it leaks into someone else's day.
It protects your future self from your rushed version today.
Most bugs don't come from what you don't know.
They come from moving too fast to see what is already there.
Today's Insight
The cleanest code comes from the calmest mind.
Patience gives you a chance to catch the crack before it splits.
Action Steps
- Slow Your Start - Step back before you code. Play the logic through in your head. Five minutes of thinking now saves an hour of cleanup later.
- Refactor as You Go - Clean up while the problem is still fresh. Leave it sloppy, and it stays that way.
- Test with Care - Write tests while the details are still precise. Let them slow you down in all the right places.
Consider This
When did speed turn into more work?
What might have changed if you paused before that first line?