Don’t rush
- Confucius: 欲速则不达
- I sometimes rush my wife to do and nap before her night shift so that she gets enough rest. But by rushing her, she finds it harder to fall asleep, which defeats the original purpose.
“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.”
— Alfred A. Montapert
The actual reward state is not one where you're lazing around doing nothing. It's one where you're keeping busy, where you're doing things that stimulate you, and where you're resting only a fraction of the time. The preferred ground state is not one where you have no activity to partake in, it's one where you're managing the streams of activity precisely, and moving through them at the right pace: not too fast, but also not too slow. For that would be boring.
“How long will it take for me to learn?” Matajuro asked.
“A boy of your age?” said Banzo. “Ten years.”
“That’s too long!” Matajuro cried. “What if I practice every day, day and night— how long then?”
“Every day, day and night?” said Banzo. “In that case, twenty years.”
“I mean if I practice all day long, every day, without fail—do nothing but kendo— how long then?”
“In that case,” said Banzo, “thirty years. A fellow in a hurry never learns anything fast.”