Have I done enough today?
But its not the only one to answer during a busy day. What about, am I making an impact? Will I leave a suitably ugly but well-respected corpse? Do I see enough of my kids? Do they see enough of me? Am I doing enough to help out around the house? Why can I not get that grant? Am I doing enough on the grants I currently hold? How many ethics renewals are coming up? What about that GMO renewal? How could viruses fit into those new funding opportunities I read about on Friday? Did that PhD student get a rough review because I was tired? How many manuscripts am I shepherding - was it 3 or 4, was that a new request last night? Should stop checking eMail last thing at night so I don't let them slip down the InBox. When are those 2 manuscript reviews due? I hate when my reviewers drag their heels. How do I get that preliminary data now that I've lost my research assistant? How many more hours do I need to spend at night to get these papers out? Does sleep deprivation really do that? Is glymph build up irrevocably ruining me? I'd have called it blymph. How can I make them see that testing for some viruses but not other misses the point of testing at all? So now salt is okay but statins aren't? I always suspected sugar was the enemy but damn I'd love some chocolate. When is my next cholesterol review due? Garfield always had it right; "die" with a 't' ". Should I stop writing content reviews and instead initiate more content? Why am I writing any of this stuff anyway? Is it a waste? Can I finally spare a little time to play some more Crysis (I see they are up to #3 now). Will I miss Thor on the big screen? Do those plants need watering? Is lawn grub causing that? Need groceries.
So it was with great interest that I caught this article on news.com.au written by Keija Zhu and posted on his blog. Take a couple of minutes to read the entire post. It's a tale laden with wisdom and calm sensibility. It's written in such a way that it just makes sense and could easily translate to a mantra...
Don't be in so much of a rush. Be easier on yourself. Comparing yourself to what others are doing is a waste of time. He also adds an old Chinese saying "????" - A big construction is always completed late.
Excellent advice.
Right. What's next?
