Learning to Pause, Breathe, and Sometimes Take the Easier Road
I have always aimed pretty high in whatever I was doing - whether it be school, work, every-day life. Set high standards and abide by them. This "aiming high" has become so ingrained in me, that I have recently actually had to remind myself that perhaps (just perhaps) it may not always be necessary... or healthy, for that matter.
It is not that I want to slack off or not care or be less motivated. But I have realized that there should be a distinction between the things you set high standards for (those that you presumably care most about, are most interested in, etc.) and those that you set lower standards for (those things that you just need to do but are personally not that invested in). And setting lower standards for some things is actually necessary and often recommended. I know this is all sounding pretty abstract right now. But just in the past two days, I was faced with making some (what to many people will seem pretty) mundane decisions. Whether to take a certain (required) class at the more advanced (i.e., more quantitative) level or simply do the easier track. My initial instinct was to do the former - and challenge myself. But a few days later, I stopped and asked myself the question: Am I doing this because I really want to learn this material or because I don't want to admit "defeat" in taking the easier track? Is it worth spending so much time on class assignments (that will take far longer than the ones for the easier class), when I could be putting this time towards work in the courses I am actually really interested in and excited about? When put in those terms, the answer seemed pretty evident. I should just take the easier track. And, yet, why was it so hard for me to reach that conclusion? Pride? Fear of admitting failure? My inclination to stick it out once I have started something?
Human nature is pretty strange sometimes. I knew the right answer but almost didn't want to admit it to myself. And now that I actually have, I feel a lot better. Note to self: You don't always have to take the hard road, especially if it does not contribute much to your overall journey. Things that probably seem pretty evident to most of you (and, viewed from the outside, seem obvious to me as well), but it also just as amazing how "irrational" we become when bogged down in something.
Second point, although this was just a simple class example, these trade-offs exist in all aspects of life, and I should become better at recognizing and tackling them.
6 comments:
Eh deni...deni.... mnogo se stqgash......otpusni q taq dusha malko! :P
sasho
lesno ti e na tebe, kato ne triabva da mislish za makro i ikonometria (mnogo sushtestveni i zhiznenovazhni neshta) ;)
I've been in your shoes.
Sometimes the biggest struggle is against our own conscientiousness and standards.
I agree, 100%.
Deni, mnogo mi dopadnaha tezi razsyjdenia. I az naposledyk si mislia, 4e poniakoga 4ovek polaga usilia za neshta, koito izglejdat golemi, znachimi, vajni, dori postijenia, no izobshto ne go praviat tolkova shtastliv, kolkoto bi triabvalo. A tova toi dori ne ozyznava. A pyk ne obryshta vnimanie i podceniava sluchaino doshlite neshta i hora v jivota si, ne gi oceniava, tochno zashtoto ne e polojil uslia za tiah. Dori poniakoga se chuvstva guzen poradi syshtata prichina. A dali sluchainostite sa sluchainosti naistina ili prosto joker ot sydbata, a pyk dylgia i truden pyt ne podskazva, 4e ne e pravilnia? Ne znam... Mai e vajno da si zadadem vyprosa "Kakvo ni pravi shtstlivi?", pyk to 6tastieto samo znae kak da se ogranizira i na koi pokazatel kakva letva da sloji :-)
Da, poniakoga kogato neshtata prosto ne vurviat, kolkoto i usilia da polagash, chovek triabva prosto da se primiri i da si kazhe "stiga tolkova". Sushtoto vazhi spored men, kogato ne se chuvstva shtastliv. Trudnia moment obache idva ot tova, che chovek ne vinagi iska da si priznae, che ne e shtastliv. Vse si kazva, che ako izturpi oshte malko neshtata shte potrugnat i t.n. Poniakoga e taka... no spored men chovek ne triabva da chaka bezkraino dulgo predi da reshi da prekrati usiliata si ako te prosto ne ti nosiat tova, koeto ochakvash.
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