Zero Sum Game Part II

Conversation
Master: You missed your deadline again!!!

Slave: Ermm... Yah... Sorry...

Master: Don't you ever prioritise? You weakling?

Slave: I tried, Master... I really tried... but...

Master: Not good enough... You deserved to be slaughtered...

Slave: (Thinking to himself) I really priortised... It's just that the task you asked me to do wasn't on the top of my list.. that's all...

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It's funny... time is a limited commodity... can't have any more of it... yet in our daily lives, we pack it with all sorts of activities... You spend more time on A, you'll do less for B... You priortise your time for C, you get reprimanded by D for not priortising...

Today I priortise my time for X... but chances are, I may be barking up the wrong tree and lose the opportunity to serve Y... X will go on and do well in life even without me priortising my time towards X, but at the same time, I have to start all over from scratch...

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Funny thoughts... just from reading the first few pages of a new book I bought...

"The Zahir" by my favourite author, Paulo Coelho...

There's an excerpt which he quoted from another book at the preface of this book... I find it very thought provoking... Here goes...

ITHACA
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotions touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your heart does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

Constantine Cavafy (1863 - 1933)

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What is my Ithaca? Where is my Ithaca? Am I already on my way to Ithaca? I really hope I do, even though I feel I am not... Perhaps I've met with the Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon... I mustn't fear them... But who are the Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon around me? Someone close? Someone distant? How do I tell?

Am I held back from reaching Ithaca? Or worse still, am I holding someone back from reaching their Ithaca?

Very interesting book... though I don't think I have the time to keep reading this book, I think I'll make it a point to pause reading my other 'in-progress' books and devour this one properly...

I often gain lots of insights from Paolo Coelho's books... He surprises me with lots of alternative perspectives of life... Very thought provoking...

Indeed thought-provoking...