Learning Experience: Quickness Versus Accuracy

I have had an internship every year since the summer before my freshman year of college, and through these work experiences I have learned a great number of things. However, one thing I have always struggled with is striking the correct balance between quickness and accuracy when turning in a work project. Whenever I would work on a project I would always have trouble deciding on whether it would be better to focus on getting it done immediately or taking my time and 100% ensuring its accuracy. Now it is not to say that this lack of understanding lead to poor work products, as I felt my employers were generally pleased with my work, but this dilemma was constantly on the back of my mind. Instead of taking the initiative to figure it out, perhaps by asking my boss directly, I chose to continue on with the question unanswered. Looking back on it, it seems that I hoped that luck alone would guide me on striking the correct balance. For a long time the system I had worked, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing, but I seemed to be doing something right. However, I always wondered what the explicit answer was to my dilemma.

By now you might have guessed, I recently was in a position were I was able to have my questions answered. I just started a new internship for the school year, and in completing one of my basic responsibilities for a partner of the firm I made a blatant error that this individual caught. While I am not sure how exactly I made the error, it was clear that if I wouldn’t have rushed through the task that the error could have been avoided, or at the least I could have caught it before handing the project over. Nonetheless, the individual called me into their office and sat me down. While I was preparing to at least find myself in the direction of a raised voice, the individual instead provided the answer to the question that had been with me throughout all of my jobs. This person told me that while it was very common for a young person to want to get everything done very quickly because that is what people full time with experience do, as someone new (to either a job or the workforce itself), you should instead be focused on the accuracy of your work. They then went on to describe that when you are learning that the key is doing accurate work and after enough practice the quickness is learned on its own. Now I know that all of this seems very logical, and I believe it is something that I have implicitly known for many years, but I found it very profound to have someone whom I lookup to and is very successful spell it out for me. Without ever receiving a clear answer, I would have continued to have lingering doubts whether I was approaching work the right way, which would have lead to more carless errors in the future. Therefore, in a way, this served to extinguish any doubts I had regarding the best way to complete work. I feel that this learning experience is incredibly relevant for me as in less than a year I will be graduating and joining the workforce, and I believe I will be able to apply that conversation to my entire career moving forward.