The stale green light
Coming down the empty road, you can see the light from a ways off. It’s been green for awhile, which means it’s due to turn red soon.
Should you speed up, so you can make it through before the yellow appears and is gone…
Or should you slow down, so you can safely and gracefully come to a complete stop?
It depends.
If it’s an actual green light, you should certainly slow down. It’s safer. It won’t take that much time. You have the engine of the car to do the work.
But if it’s a metaphorical green light, a window of opportunity, a shift in the culture you can feel disappearing, it might very well pay to speed up. Because that extra effort, done with safety on behalf of those you seek to serve, will compound.
It never pays to wait until a deadline, but when you see the world changing, it might be a good excuse to redouble your efforts.