I once had a friend who prided himself on being lazy. He did not consider it to be a negative in the least.
The way he saw it, his laziness forced him to come up with solutions that enabled him to be successful without perennially running around like a chicken without a head. That wasn't his vision of himself.
His laziness was his wisdom. What is yours? Is it:
- To work hard or to work smart?
- To run full sprint at all times or to pace yourself for a marathon?
- To pursue execution speed or to develop strategic decision-making skills?
- To live it, breathe it 24/7 or to put it in a box and stick it in the drawer when the opportunity presents?
- To pursue individual greatness or to become a part of the body team?
Share your thoughts, I will share mine and maybe over time this can grow into a wall of wisdom. :-)
I try to ask a lot of questions. On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day. They ask the toughest questions; any question that can't be pondered by a 4-year-old is probably too complex to get a worthwhile answer out of.
Posted by: John "Z-Bo" Zabroski | August 15, 2007 at 10:17 PM
To your latter point, my yoga teacher likes to joke that when you see a thick philosophy book you know that the writer hasn't figured it out, whereas the short book has separated the wheat from the chaffe.
Posted by: Mark Sigal | August 18, 2007 at 10:13 AM
I'll add to that. Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince was his so-called re'sume' that he presented to become a prince's advisor. Granted, it's a big re'sume' =), but it's a small book (usually printed under 150 pages in novel format).
I do like reading thin philosophy books, though some can be incredibly dense, like Heidegger's Discourse on Thinking.
What do you like/value more... words that crystallize your own personal beliefs (making you go from fuzzy to crisp) or words that question the way you look at the world (making you go from crisp to fuzzy)?
Posted by: John "Z-Bo" Zabroski | September 06, 2007 at 12:28 AM
Refine the core, stimulate progress. It is an AND. I like topics that help me codify concepts into readily repeatable, digesting terms, stories, metaphors as once you get them down they are like screwdrivers in a tool kit. You can use them over and over without modification for the same task, which means you are not having to re-create the wheel on a daily basis.
At the same time, it is from the firmness of foundation that you can embrace new concepts, tear down foundations and re-think what IS.
All of that said, as I get older there is less pure magic in new ideas and more magic in making stuff work over the long haul.
Posted by: Mark Sigal | September 06, 2007 at 10:58 AM