Knots, Minutes, and Miles
One of my favorite sayings is, “Life is won in the last quarter inch.” When I manifest that phrase, I feel the power of a race. There I am, going fast toward a finish line in no time. But how fast, how far, and for how long? This is where speed, measurements, and time come to play. Without them, what have you got in business and life?
Knot Serious
Ever wonder where the nautical term “knots” came from? I had not either until recently. It turns out hundreds of years ago sailors would drop from their speeding sailboat – like you would an anchor – a triangular-shaped log attached to a knotted rope that floated in the water for a set period of time. Then they would count the many minutely spaced-out knots in the rope connected to the boat. The more knots they counted, the faster they were going. Though knot exact, it was an ingenious estimate.
Now if you are going 4 knots on the water, you are actually going faster than 4 mph on land. What? A knot is a measure of speed in nautical miles, and because you are over water going great distances it makes sense – somehow – to consider longitude and latitude lines and the curvature of the earth. A nautical mile is technically one minute of latitude. So, if you are going 4 knots you may end up with more than you expect.
But are these same issues knot on land too? The earth isn’t only curved on water. In any case, know that a mile on water is 1.15 miles on land, the equivalent of a single minute. Since none of us truly measure up, we just don’t have the latitude to change this for a second.
And where did the mile come from anyway? The ancient Romans measured the distance between a soldier’s same foot hitting the ground again – a double step – when marching. That’s a little more than 5 feet. Try it for yourself and see. Now a thousand of those – or “mille” in Latin – roughly total 5,280 feet or what we know today as a mile. But on the water its 6,076 feet – a nautical mile? As differences go, that’s not minute, that’s serious!
Full Speed Ahead
How fast are you running your business and life? How are you measuring the velocity of your progress? Is it the number of tasks you complete in a week? Do you have statistics that track your effectiveness? What are you gauging at work and in life? Anything?
We can write all day about how over millennia we have created different measuring systems like knots, miles, and minutes. Alas, these things do not exist in reality. They are inventions designed to assist us in understanding our world and how we move through it or win races. What are you inventing in your business and life to measure your advancement? It’s got to be more than money. Is it connections, acknowledgements, wins, inventions, agreements, or thank yous?
Keep the measures simple. That way you won’t tie yourself up in knots as you inch along minute by minute the miles you go before you sleep.
Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers