Is Direction Greater than Speed?

Is Direction Greater than Speed?

Check the internet. Check the instagram page of many life coaches and motivational speakers. There is a lot of information on how direction is greater than speed.

I understand their bias (permit me) as well as their defence. However, I believe strongly that it is short sighted.

Direction is often confused with destination, I presume. We glorify direction thinking it is all about “where.” Meanwhile, it is more about “how.”

If for instance, you want to get to Lagos from Abuja for the first time, the destination is clear but the direction is not. You have never been on that journey before.

However, you have the opportunity to ask those who have been on it before to direct you. But directing you doesn’t equal going on the journey with you and even if they accept to go on the journey with you, the situation on the road is different everyday.

More so, there are a couple of routes to get to Lagos from Abuja. With you not knowing what will happen that day on these different routes until you attempt to ply them.


The problem with “how” is that it is filled with lots of uncertainties and decision making. You cannot fathom the challenges you would face on the journey before hand

The how to get to where is never clear. You can make guesses, ask experts, etc but these do not control the outcome.

Speed is important to eliminate the many decisions you have to face till you find the right answer and get to your destination. Using our analogy, you want to drive fast enough to get to the best route and if you find that there is an accident on the road causing a road block, you can easily take the next available route and still get to your destination just in time.

Ideally, direction is more important than speed but in reality, speed is equally as important as direction.

Speed helps you get to your direction faster by eliminating the wrong options faster.

Direction and speed are equally important. We are filled with too many decisions to make and the earlier we start making these decisions, the better.

The direction that worked for me, might not work for you. Speed up to test run it. If it doesn’t work, you can go to the next possible direction immediately. If it does, good for you.

Direction and speed are equally important. If you are going to fail, fail in time; so you can get to success just in time.