On pace and value -- why is moving slow boring?

by Tom Johnson on Apr 27, 2026 comments
categories: writing

After my post about how work expands to fill the space allotted, for a few days afterwards, I kind of slipped into the mindset that it didn’t matter how hard I worked, since my work and the work of those around me would all be viewed relatively the same, and if it comes time for someone to do massive layoffs (like we see in the news with Meta, Microsoft, Nike, etc.), it’ll be someone who doesn’t know me, who likely doesn’t even consult my manager, who just sees a role and a financial figure and draws a line through it. Hence, why bother to go above and beyond in my role? What’s the point?

I actually did go above and beyond in my role last year, earning the highest performance rating I’ve ever received — one rung above the rating I’d gotten for my previous 4 years. I also had 19 peer bonuses, which is nearly the same in one year as I received in all 4 previous years. And I committed a ton of documentation code, whether updates, deletions, or new code. I was off the charts last year.

But as I was feeling that this somehow didn’t really matter, that as a lone writer in my org, no one really notices the output, I’m just “the technical writer,” easily replaced by another “technical writer,” I started to ease off the accelerator. I started to take it easy, working at a more sustainable pace, more like a normal speed. And then I realized something profound and disturbing: Moving slow is boring.

Moving at a slower pace, I wasn’t as intellectually engaged in the work. I’ve spent much of this year working on some release docs skills to help automate some of the work. That’s been interesting and rewarding. I gave a few presentations on automation engineering, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for those release docs tasks. The thing is, there aren’t that many repeatable tasks that I work on. And the auto engineering design work is not rocket science. It usually comes down to how smart the model is, and how to come up with verification tasks that will compensate for its errors.

I realized that I actually like moving at a breakneck speed, going so fast that it turns heads and prompts people to give me peer bonuses. I like cracking through a whole list of bugs in a day, accomplishing what might take other writers several days. Perhaps I’ve been brainwashed to feel value moving at this high-velocity pace, but it just feels better. It feels more interesting, more rewarding, and more engaging. In short, I’m bored when I move in slow mode.

The challenge is that I can’t let work consume me, neglecting family, personal, and house duties. I need to find time for me, whatever that means. This week it’s meant coming home, sitting on the couch and watching NBA playoffs for hours on end. I also cleaned my car … twice.

But if I don’t work hard enough at work, I’m bored and unengaged by the work. Is there a middle ground?

The paradox I’ve been describing (is it even a paradox?) is that if I work too hard, it ends up consuming my personal and family time. And if I don’t work hard enough, work becomes boring, unengaging. How have people navigated this dilemma?

Surely there’s a balance to be struck, and a reason for putting up guardrails from working at home. I had never guessed that moving slower would be more boring, potentially making the work harder.

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