Am I doing enough?

I'm very guilty of suffering from this. The darker side of my nature shoves this question up to the surface, as I'm sure it does for many of us at times..

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 "大器晚成" - A big construction is always completed late.

Excellent advice. 

Right. What's next?