Moving at 2.5x Speed

In the spring of 2018, an old friend of mine recommended me to download a Google Chrome extension called video speed controller. 

It was a life changer. From that moment on, I sped everything up.

In Chapter 2 of my life blog, during the spring of 2018, I mentioned how I worked my way up to watching movies/shows/videos and listening to podcasts at 2x speed.

In Chapter 7 of my life blog, during the fall of 2019, I mentioned how I worked my way up to watching movies/shows/videos up to 3x speed.

Now, it’s the spring of 2020 and I think I found the perfect speed—for the majority of the time at least—at 2.5x speed.

Any movie, any video, any lecture, and my default is 2.5x speed.

Podcasts play at 2x speed.

Songs play at 1.5x speed.

If it’s too slow, I’ll speed it up accordingly.

I’m not sacrificing comprehension. I’m not sacrificing enjoyment. 

I’m simply maximizing efficiency and accelerating my absorption of material/content/information.

The Negatives:

• Watching most movies in a movie theater isn’t as enjoyable anymore
• Watching anything with people is no longer an option unless we compromise at 1.5x speed.

That’s it.

So why do I love 2.5x speed?

The obvious: I save plenty of time.

The recent shows I watched were about 45 minutes long per episode. With the rate in which I watched them, I was able to finish three episodes in the same amount of time it takes someone who watches at regular speed to finish one. Now I have nothing to watch and more time to do more productive things.

The last movie I watched was Inception and I finished it in 55 minutes, the same amount of time it takes someone to start dreaming when they fall asleep.

I get the same information from the podcasts I listen to as others do, just in half the time.

The songs I listen to sound even better (highly recommend Redbone and There He Go at 1.5x speed).

What do I get from doing this?

Chili expert Kevin Malone said it best, “Save time. More success. Many small time make big time”.

People always tell me I’m moving too fast, that I should slow down because I’m not taking my time to enjoy things, and then ask if I can even understand what I’m listening to or watching.

My responses are as follows, respectively: I am not moving too fast, I do find this pace enjoyable, and Yes.

On a more serious note, the rate at which I prefer to encode, consolidate, store, and then later recall and retrieve information reflects how I prefer to live my life.

I don’t just watch at 2.5x speed. I like to think that I live at 2.5x speed as well.

I’m decisive. I’m determined. I’m dexterous.

I believe that I can learn anything relatively quickly if I set my mind to it.

There is no tradeoff with my speed and performance. I don’t sacrifice precision with speed.

The faster I get, the more precise I become, which translates to better efficiency. Correlation doesn’t mean causation but in this aspect of my life, correlation exists because of causation.

If you look at my work history, you will see that I tend not to stay in one place for too long because I eventually learn everything, making the job too easy. If I’m not being challenged anymore, I’ll find one where I will. If I’m not learning anything new, I will look for a place where I will. If it’s easy, then it’s an easy decision: I’m leaving.

If you look at my transcript, you will see that my performance improved as I continued to take more and more classes. I skipped General Chemistry and went directly to Organic Chemistry. I succeeded. I took my major upper division classes in my third semester. I succeeded. I averaged about ~23 units per semester. I succeeded. The more work and responsibilities I managed resulted in some of my best semesters.

As for the relationships I’ve formed, I take pride in the quality of each and every one of them, especially considering most of them are only about a year old. More on that in my Thank You article that’s coming soon.

If you look at my undergraduate career, you will see that I earned my Bachelor’s degree in three years. Although this is something I didn’t master as quickly, given how I was able to graduate only a year faster than the supposed allotted time, rereading the prior three paragraphs will provide more context.

I’m proud of my resume. I’m proud of my transcript. I’m proud of the relationships I have. All of which I did in three years.

I consolidated what was supposed to be four years of my undergraduate career into three action-packed years that I would not change anything about.

The more I have on my plate, the hungrier I get, thus the more I eat.

If life is a buffet, then I want to eat everything.

Ironically, despite everything I’ve consumed, I’m still starving.

If life, however, is a marathon, then I want to be able to train myself to sprint through the whole race.

If there’s something I’m curious about, I’m going to put myself in a position to find out as soon as I can if I like it to prevent wasting time.

If there’s something I want, I’m going to do everything I can to get it as quickly as I can.

If there’s something I like, I’m going to do everything I can to earn it as quickly as I can.

I don’t skip steps. I just sprint through them.

I’m not going to say life is short because that will be cliché. I will, however, state the obvious that we only have one life.

There are a lot of things I want to do, a lot of things I want to learn, and even more things I want to accomplish. In order to get everything done, I have to work and move as fast as I can. There’s no time to waste.

If I can expedite certain processes in order to get to where I want to be sooner, then I will do just that.

I am also cognizant of the fact that there are certain processes I cannot rush, like cooking, as well as certain things I can only learn with time, like experiences. I am well-aware of those. Since those are things I can’t control, I do what I can and let the rest come naturally.

For the things I can control—education, learning new material for enrichment, entertainment—I consolidate them and dedicate myself to absorbing and retaining as much information as fast as I possibly can, especially since I plan on living my late 20s in my mid 20s and my mid 20s in my early 20s.

What does that mean?

You should know by now… if not, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯