people walk too slow. And drive too slow. Lots of people meander to and from different places. They enjoy travel, long drives, and routes that aren’t always the most efficient.
I’m not that way. I like getting places quickly. Of all the things in science fiction, the thing I most want is a teleporter. I’d love to be zapped to work every morning to avoid my 10 minute commute. I’m planning a trip to India now … a 24 hour travel experience … and while I will benefit from reading a bunch of books and spending some time in deep thought, there is nothing I’d like more than to be zapped to my destination. but alas, we might not be able to expect this essential tool from science fiction in our lifetime.
People always say: “stop and smell the roses.” That’s often seen as good advice. They often say “don’t work so hard” to people. the common thing I hear is the story of a man on his deathbed who never regrets that he didn’t work hard enough but does regret that he did not spend enough time going to little juniors baseball practice.
But that’s just the issue with regrets … the accomplished often regret that they did not spend enough time with their family. The unaccomplished often regret that they did not spend enough time to be accomplished (and they often ALSO regret they did not spend enough time with their family).
People often look down on workaholics. They claim this isn’t good for health, for the person, or for society. To that, I say … baloney!
What does Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Alexander Hamilton, Bill Gates, Nathan Rothschild, and almost everyone else that changed the world have in common? It isn’t that they spent tons of time stopping and smelling the roses. These people lived, eat, and breathed their work. Great people work really hard. Yes, they occasionally watch a movie, get lost in a mindless book, play with their kids, create art, kiss their spouse, cook a meal, and exercise … and that’s all good. but great people, almost all of them, work really really hard.
My advice is ignore the roses … focus on changing the world. The roses will still be there when you’re done.