Maybe Ive been reading too much Thoreau and/or Richard Hamming, but I think it is important that we dont get 'frittered away in details' (thoreau) in our daily work and personal lives....and try to figure out ways to simplify things in all that we do. Getting drowned in the day to day seemingly unimportant tasks often tends to cloud the big picture of where we are heading. Hamming really hit the mark on focusing on work that was significant:
In order to get at you individually, I must talk in the first person. I have to get you to drop modesty and say to yourself, ``Yes, I would like to do first-class work.'' Our society frowns on people who set out to do really good work. You're not supposed to; luck is supposed to descend on you and you do great things by chance. Well, that's a kind of dumb thing to say. I say, why shouldn't you set out to do something significant. You don't have to tell other people, but shouldn't you say to yourself, ``Yes, I would like to do something significant.''
Hamming also allocated 10% of his time to trying to understand bigger problems in his field and esp on what is and isnt important. For years he and a group would meet on Fri afternoons and think--'great thoughts only' on what direction their lives were taking.
Hopefully we are not doing trivial work and/or working on the wrong priorities in our daily lives..Reassessing things on a regular basis is something we could all be more cognizant of....
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