One major shift in my mental models in the last 5 years has been to focus on velocity instead of speed.
The main difference (as you may have learned from high school physics), is that velocity has a direction component in addition to a speed component. For example, your speed may be 60 mph, but your velocity would be 60 mph headed NW.
Direction is critically important. I think a lot of modern productivity is about how to go faster, but fails to address the much harder question of “where are you trying to end up in the first place?” If you quickly get to the wrong place, it’s not really a great outcome (although hopefully you learned some things along the way).
Speed is okay when decisions tend to be very reversible, and the focus is on experimentation/learning. But you need to be clear about your intent. Actually implementing something tends to be expensive, and that’s when you should have your heading figured out.
I think this principle applies broadly to life as well. Many people try to rush through life checking off as many boxes as possible (I feel like I can make this generalization because I used to have this mindset in high school). Graduate high school, check. Go to a good college, check. Pick an in-demand specialization, check. But this mindset may be a cause of many mid-life crises — having accomplished all these items, but ending up a in place that you didn’t really thoroughly consider.
Also remember that you are allowed to change directions if you realize you are going in the wrong direction. It may be painful, but it’s better than ending up at the wrong place.
