“in the early years of the twentieth century, the most sought-after goal in the world was to reach the South Pole. It had never been done before in all of recorded human history…In November 1911 two “rivals for the pole” aimed to be the first to achieve this elusive goal: Captain Robert Falcon Scott from Great Britain, and Roald Amundsen from Norway, otherwise known as “the Last Viking.””

They started merely days apart on a 1,500-mile journey. The race began.

Scott allowed his team to rest only on the days “when it froze” and pushed his team to the point of “inhuman exertion” on the days “when it thawed”.

Amundsen instead “insisted on plenty of rest” and kept a steady pace for the duration of the trip to the South Pole.” “Rain or shine, Amundsen “would not allow the daily 15 miles to be exceeded.” They didn’t always meet their goal of 15 miles a day, but they never “made up for lost time” by going further on good days. They just kept plodding along.

Even on the brink of victory, 45 miles from their goal, they didn’t use good weather to push hard and reach their goal in a single day. They kept traveling 15 miles a day until they reached the South Pole three days later.

“Setting a steady, consistent, sustainable pace was ultimately what allowed the party from Norway to reach their destination “without particular effort,” as Roland Hunford explains. 

“Without particular effort? They accomplished a feat that had eluded adventurers for millennia. Of course, not every day was easy. But even under the harshest of conditions, the goal was doable, thanks to that one simple rule: they would not exceed fifteen miles a day, no matter what.” (emphasis mine)

Scott and his demoralized team finally reached the South Pole 34 days later, only to find that they were too late. They had lost the race.

Their trek home was even more tragic.

They all perished in the bitter winter weather, never to see their homeland again.

One team was victorious; the other perished.

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.

When you’re looking to improve your communication skills, consistency of practice beats intensity of practice.

Josh

This story comes from Effortless by Greg McKeown.