Unhurried Happiness

"...you can do almost anything or go almost anywhere, if you're not in a hurry."
- Paul Theroux, The Happy Isles of Oceania

I'm back at my usual Starbucks spot on my blogging day. I didn't know what to write today but the quote above occurred to me. It's something I remembered from Paul Theroux's Happy Isles of Oceania. I think it was a quote from a guy he met on one of the islands in the South Pacific. The man was slowly building a raft to sail somewhere.

The image of a guy slowly gathering pieces of wood to construct a vehicle to go somewhere seems like a picture of pure happiness to me. A lot of the software I write had been done rather unhurriedly--one line at a time towards some near goal, which upon attainment becomes the building block of a bigger goal. At some point I would be amazed at the complexity and amount of code that I have written. Did I do all that?

I've learned through experience that if one plans carefully, one need never hurry. Every finite amount of work, if it is to be done correctly, requires a finite amount of time. If you reduce work to small chunks, each quantum of work can be tackled unhurriedly, without the distraction of the larger goal. The mind can become very focused on the task at hand.

I spent the whole day at the office today and delivered my unhurried quantum of work. That piece shall become the building block of tomorrow's work. That's how I progress everyday. One line of code at a time. One true sentence, as Hemingway would say.

Let me be clear here: being unhurried doesn't mean that one is a slow worker. It simply says that the performance of every task has its specific optimum speed. When you are driving on the highway on the middle lane and has no intention to overtake, you have to adjust your speed so that you are not hogging the traffic. There's an optimum speed for every highway (usually slightly above the speed limit).

Being focused, present and unhurried is the most productive state of mind. There's great satisfaction in going through life that way. Everything is translucent under the clear light of the present moment. When one is in a hurry, life goes by in a blur. So, never hurry. Find your optimum pace. You can go almost anywhere that way.