A few nights ago, I was walking down the stairs in my condo and, as I thought I was stepping down onto the landing, I found myself falling through space.

The floor was not where I expected it to be. Apparently, I had overestimated how many stairs I had gone down and I fell face-first onto the hardwood floor.

Luckily, I broke my fall, something I have done thousands of times on the jiu-jitsu mats, but it still hurt. There I was, lying on the floor, both shocked and embarrassed, wondering how I’d gotten there.

As it turns out, each step is there for a reason. Skipping some may get you where you are going more quickly, but haste comes at a cost.