The latest car I have been driving have a cool feature which allows you to immediately get the mileage of the car depending on how you are driving. It is almost instantaneous, so it is really an feedback mechanism which allows you to know how to optimize your driving habits for maximum fuel efficiency.

This is a great tool as for instance, you will notice immediately that if you try to accelerate faster, you would be getting less mileage than if you accelerate gradually.

I noticed that the way I drive is wasting fuel because I normally accelerate to go faster ( when nearing a curve to make a turn, or when the traffic in front slows) even if the inertia or momentum of the car can get there. That generally means that I will get to the curve or the car in front of me a few seconds faster but I would step on the brakes harder as I just accelerated.

I am sure this is the way many people drive, especially us ‘busy’ people, thinking it gains us time, when in fact it hardly does.

I noticed that the way we drive also is the way we sometimes manage the business. I have seen too many businesses who spend way a lot too money because they want to accelerate fast. On the same token, I have seen many companies just accelerate to market or advertise a product even when it is near the time to introduce new models. I have also seen many companies who accelerate their hiring in one quarter, only to let go of them in the next quarter.

Just the same way we drive to get optimal efficiency should also be the way we try to manage our small business - with an eye to not wasting fuel or money.

We have been trained that in order to win, we should drive as fast as we can, and we don’t have a good view when we are overtaken by too many cars. But what if you just want to enjoy your ride? If you will have the confidence that you can be comfortable, and can get there in good time, shouldn’t you just lay back, and relax and don’t let yourself be stressed out?