Steve Prentice > Quotes

“When we react, we are not seeking to control a situation but merely to protect our existence within that situation. If, by contrast, you seek to control or change that situation, especially when it’s to your benefit, then you are no longer reacting. You are proacting.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“realize that they might have a chance to step forward from the recesses of the brain and express themselves. Thoughts that might save time, create new opportunities, or generally do good things—they’re all in there. But every time they try to make themselves known, they’re brushed aside by another fast-moving “immediacy.” These ideas find little opportunity to make themselves known in our busy world, and collectively we run the risk of losing them forever.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“The irony here is that although the cubicle grid structure of the typical office allows many people to work closely together, it has done little to improve actual human-to-human contact skills. People feel more comfortable hiding behind email than they do talking issues through, face to face, in a well-structured, dynamic discussion.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“For the professional pickpocket, one of the best tools he could invest in is a wall-mounted sign that reads “Beware of Pickpockets.” With this unlikely device, he needs simply to hang this sign on the wall of a railway or bus station and then sit back and observe as legions of well-meaning people casually pat their pockets or purses, reassuring themselves that their valuables are where they should be, all the while giving the thief clear instructions on where to find the goods.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“a traditional approach to dining, a far less hurried one, that many people in France enjoy. They take the time to savor the meal, to review its presentation, to take note of its many flavors, and, while dining, they enjoy passionate conversations or arguments. They talk as well as eat. This gives their digestive systems more time to receive and process the food, without being forced to literally pack it away as body fat.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“Seeking to create a high-productivity space for commercial innovation, Probst conceived the “Action Office,” whose surfaces, both horizontal and vertical, allowed for clear thought, freedom of movement, ample storage, and the ability to lay out plans and drawings (there were no personal computers back then), all in a semi-open, semi-private configuration. Sadly, as is the fate of many creative architects, he watched as his modular workplace morphed into an economic convenience for the companies for which they worked, in which creative space gave way to an ice-cube tray-like formation, and the priority shifted away from ergonomic needs to economic ones.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“When it comes to food, the obvious and expected approach for North Americans is to diet, which results in cravings, cheating, and shameful feelings. Diets seldom work for long since they go against the natural tendencies of the body, and in many cases the weight simply returns. But since dieting has been with us for decades now, it is accepted as the social norm. Mme Guiliano’s approach, however, is to continue to eat, but to eat in a measured, slower way. This, she shows, achieves greater progress, a more stable, natural approach to weight management without cravings, and is also much easier.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“Coffee was referred to by some Christians as “the devil’s drink.” In Rome, a sample of coffee was presented to Pope Vincent III, who had decided to taste it before banishing it. However, as the story goes, upon taking his first sip, he was won over, and he actually baptized it instead.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“it’s the difference between walking fast because you like to and walking fast because you have to. When people or companies react and increase their pace because they have to, they move into the emotional territory where fear and anger live.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower

“It takes time for individual thoughts and ideas to realize that they might have a chance to step forward from the recesses of the brain and express themselves. Thoughts that might save time, create new opportunities, or generally do good things—they’re all in there. But every time they try to make themselves known, they’re brushed aside by another fast-moving “immediacy.” These ideas find little opportunity to make themselves known in our busy world, and collectively we run the risk of losing them forever.”
― Steve Prentice, Cool Down: Getting Further by Going Slower