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| Confucius (via Wikipedia) |
Let us explore great quotes of the past and of the present to know how we can apply them to our life.
Note: Some sayings have been repeated a few times over the centuries, and from time to time we find that one quote is attributed to several different authors.
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” Confucius
What does that mean?
Every kid is learning to walk, step by step. Then he or she is learning to speak, to read… Adults do not remember that, but sometimes it was really boring. During your life you have many goals. Some of them come easily; others take weeks or years, or even a lifetime. The path of improvement your mastery can be slow, difficult and frustrating.
We need to move in the direction of our goals and not to stop.
Where can I apply this in my life?
The journey of improvement is not a linear progression.
Imagine that you are climbing a mountain. It’s impossible to move without a stop. But when you hit a plateau it seems that it’s a regression, and others keep climbing, leaving you behind. There are two ways: to give up or to move on from one plateau to the next.
The first plateau in the journey to your mastery appears when you realize that so called “overnight successes” actually take years. At this point some people quit. According to legend, Leonardo da Vinci spent
four years on the portrait of Mona Lisa. Keep in mind that great work need time and just go on.
The second plateau appears when you understand that even with hard work you can’t achieve certain desirable goals. It’s the phenomenon in the field of psychology that known as
the spacing effect: humans more easily remember or learn items when they are studied a few times spaced over a long time span rather than repeatedly studied in a short span of time. Practically, this effect suggests that “cramming” (intense, last-minute studying) the night before an exam is not likely to be as effective as studying at intervals in a longer time frame.
To improve we need rest, patience and repetition.
The third plateau appears when you become comfort with your achievements. To get things going again, you need trying something new, but it’s a risk of failure.
Try new things and be ready for failure, because it’s what you do after failure that truly matters.
Do not give up, just move (even slowly) to the peak from one plateau to the next.
Thank you for reading!
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“Rest
is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a
summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float
across the blue sky, is by no means waste of time”. ~John Lubbock, The Use of Life, 1894 
“A
pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees
both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all — he's
walking on them”. ~Leonard Louis Levinson 
