Do You Know What Velocity You Operate At? And Why It’s Important?

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Abstract

-motivated. They work towards challenging goals. They have high aspirations. And they use their leisure time to advance towards goals. You may have some friends or coworkers who have high velocities — they always have something they are working on or hustling.</li><li>Individuals with moderate velocities are somewhat self-motivated. They set reasonable goals at work and in their lives. They have a balance of work and leisure. In their leisure time, they complete chores and socialize, or they may choose to read or work on side projects, but it’s never always one or the other.</li><li>Individuals with a low velocity are driven by their immediate needs or by others. Their work is generally demotivating. They have mild aspirations. And they are casual about their leisure time. Their friend calls them to go out? Great.</li></ul><p id="490e">Although it sounds like there are better velocities, no one velocity is ‘better’ and we all likely operate at different velocities depending on the work we do, home life, relationships with the team or partner, age, and other factors.</p><h2 id="d005">Why it’s important to understand velocities</h2><p id="3775">Jim shares a story of his son who came to him asking if Jim could teach him how to play the guitar. It delighted Jim to connect with his son on a common interest and told his son that he had to learn the different chords and play them over and over until his fingers were bleeding. His son gave it a go for a while, but after a week of playing the guitar, quit. Jim was disappointed but thought this was because his son lost interest in playing the guitar.</p><p id="b4ff">A few years later, Jim sees his son has renewed interest in playing the guitar. Instead of his son asking him though, his son asks a friend to teach him to play the guitar. His friend proceeds to walk through a few chords, but then asks the son what songs he would eventually like to play. He connected the chords, and the music practice, to his son’s favourite songs. His son, over the course of several months, played a bit every day, and then was eventually able to play his favourite song.</p><p id="35

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4f">Jim realized that there was a vast difference in velocities between himself and his son. Jim operated at a high velocity, thinking his son was the same way. When Jim dives into a project, he gives it 110% and gets it done before moving onto the next project. But his son was operating at a low velocity at the time. He wasn’t interested in going all out on the guitar practice.</p><p id="9d96">So later, when his son’s friend taught his son how to play, he adjusted his teaching style to his son’s velocity. He approached things slowly without overwhelming his son with information or immense practice sessions. He connected the guitar practice with his son’s favourite song, knowing that individuals with a low velocity need more self-motivation than usual.</p><h2 id="bad4">How you can apply this at work</h2><p id="304c">Velocities are only one aspect of individuals at work. Before I learned about people’s operating velocities, I tended to get frustrated when people would tell me they would get something done by the end of the week, instead of by the end of the day. Or when they gave me something half-baked or of lower quality, I would take it upon myself to fix it instead of allowing them to do it themselves.</p><p id="6bc4">So knowing what you know about people’s velocities, how can you get the most out of coworkers or employees?</p><ul><li>High-velocity individuals set challenging goals in life and at work. If you give them more to do, they will find the time to tackle it. But it’s important to not give them too much to do, lest they burnout.</li><li>Moderate-velocity individuals set reasonable goals. They have a healthy balance of work and leisure. If you try to set challenging, aspirational goals with them, they will likely refuse or balk at the commitment. They are hard workers, but they also need the balance.</li><li>Low-velocity individuals find work demotivating. One way to help their motivation is to tie the work to something they need (money, authority, status). And just because individuals operate at a low velocity does not mean they will always operate at that velocity.</li></ul></article></body>

Why knowing about your and other’s velocities are critical for relationships

Before joining consulting, I worked in a white-collar job at the government. I was busy at work, but when 4:30 came around, I made sure I wasn’t in the middle of a sentence or a thought, dropped everything, and then went home, not thinking about work. At home, I would either go to the gym or head to my computer for video games, movies or TV. Later, I would make myself dinner and then proceed back to my computer for more video games, before calling it a night. It was repetitive. Uneventful. I never thought to myself “is there more to life than this?”

That all changed when I joined consulting. I saw others with a lot more success than I had. And I wanted some of that for myself. But with everyone working 8+ hour days, I wasn’t sure how to achieve that success for myself — if I did what everyone else was doing, I would get what everyone else was getting. And in a dog eat dog world of management consulting, I had to show the bosses I had a unique value proposition and I could bring skills and experiences nobody else had.

In this article, I would like to share what I learned from The Acorn Principle, specifically:

The three velocities that individuals operate at

Why it’s important to know your (and others) velocities

How you can apply this at work

The three velocities

Recently, I read The Acorn Principle by Jim Cathcart. And in one chapter, Jim talks about the ‘velocity’ of an individual, and there are three velocities people operate at:

Individuals with high velocities are self-motivated. They work towards challenging goals. They have high aspirations. And they use their leisure time to advance towards goals. You may have some friends or coworkers who have high velocities — they always have something they are working on or hustling.

Individuals with moderate velocities are somewhat self-motivated. They set reasonable goals at work and in their lives. They have a balance of work and leisure. In their leisure time, they complete chores and socialize, or they may choose to read or work on side projects, but it’s never always one or the other.

Individuals with a low velocity are driven by their immediate needs or by others. Their work is generally demotivating. They have mild aspirations. And they are casual about their leisure time. Their friend calls them to go out? Great.

Although it sounds like there are better velocities, no one velocity is ‘better’ and we all likely operate at different velocities depending on the work we do, home life, relationships with the team or partner, age, and other factors.

Why it’s important to understand velocities

Jim shares a story of his son who came to him asking if Jim could teach him how to play the guitar. It delighted Jim to connect with his son on a common interest and told his son that he had to learn the different chords and play them over and over until his fingers were bleeding. His son gave it a go for a while, but after a week of playing the guitar, quit. Jim was disappointed but thought this was because his son lost interest in playing the guitar.

A few years later, Jim sees his son has renewed interest in playing the guitar. Instead of his son asking him though, his son asks a friend to teach him to play the guitar. His friend proceeds to walk through a few chords, but then asks the son what songs he would eventually like to play. He connected the chords, and the music practice, to his son’s favourite songs. His son, over the course of several months, played a bit every day, and then was eventually able to play his favourite song.

Jim realized that there was a vast difference in velocities between himself and his son. Jim operated at a high velocity, thinking his son was the same way. When Jim dives into a project, he gives it 110% and gets it done before moving onto the next project. But his son was operating at a low velocity at the time. He wasn’t interested in going all out on the guitar practice.

So later, when his son’s friend taught his son how to play, he adjusted his teaching style to his son’s velocity. He approached things slowly without overwhelming his son with information or immense practice sessions. He connected the guitar practice with his son’s favourite song, knowing that individuals with a low velocity need more self-motivation than usual.

How you can apply this at work

Velocities are only one aspect of individuals at work. Before I learned about people’s operating velocities, I tended to get frustrated when people would tell me they would get something done by the end of the week, instead of by the end of the day. Or when they gave me something half-baked or of lower quality, I would take it upon myself to fix it instead of allowing them to do it themselves.

So knowing what you know about people’s velocities, how can you get the most out of coworkers or employees?

High-velocity individuals set challenging goals in life and at work. If you give them more to do, they will find the time to tackle it. But it’s important to not give them too much to do, lest they burnout.

Moderate-velocity individuals set reasonable goals. They have a healthy balance of work and leisure. If you try to set challenging, aspirational goals with them, they will likely refuse or balk at the commitment. They are hard workers, but they also need the balance.

Low-velocity individuals find work demotivating. One way to help their motivation is to tie the work to something they need (money, authority, status). And just because individuals operate at a low velocity does not mean they will always operate at that velocity.