Im learning from the example of Immanuel Kant, the late 18th century philosopher and lecturer. This man was so brilliant, and so rigid, that reading his works without going insane or quitting halfway is still considered an achievement worthy of bragging about. It has been said that he was so precise in his schedule that his neighbors could set their watch to his routine comings and goings. His Critique of Pure Reason was "the result of reflection which occupied (him) me for at least twelve years". Despite the immense amount of brain power that went into it, he claimed to have pounded the book out in four or five months, without regret, "since otherwise, had I longer delayed... the work would probably never have been completed at all".
Immanuel Kant teaches us to do. He could have waited for the right time or spent years working on an unfinished piece, only to die leaving it behind. But he didn't. Despite the fact that he had over a decade of his own thought (the business end of Philosophy) tied up into it, he pounded that sucker out in 150 days or less. That's like a 30:1 ratio of thought to action. I read that he was worried about being misunderstood because he left so many concepts without example, all for the sake of space, and he was forced to create new meanings for words because appropriate words couldn't be found to express his thoughts. Immanuel Kant had plenty of excuses not to do, but he ignored them. He went for it, he did it, and it is still with us today.
So many times I think about "it", but I never do it. Oh, I have good reasons of course. I want to make sure it's "done right", so I don't waste the idea on a lame attempt. But maybe a less than perfect attempt is better that never doing it at all? Maybe once I reach the threshold of diminishing return it's time to make it happen and hope for the best....
Immanuel Kant teaches us to do. He could have waited for the right time or spent years working on an unfinished piece, only to die leaving it behind. But he didn't. Despite the fact that he had over a decade of his own thought (the business end of Philosophy) tied up into it, he pounded that sucker out in 150 days or less. That's like a 30:1 ratio of thought to action. I read that he was worried about being misunderstood because he left so many concepts without example, all for the sake of space, and he was forced to create new meanings for words because appropriate words couldn't be found to express his thoughts. Immanuel Kant had plenty of excuses not to do, but he ignored them. He went for it, he did it, and it is still with us today.
So many times I think about "it", but I never do it. Oh, I have good reasons of course. I want to make sure it's "done right", so I don't waste the idea on a lame attempt. But maybe a less than perfect attempt is better that never doing it at all? Maybe once I reach the threshold of diminishing return it's time to make it happen and hope for the best....
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