Came across a witty quote today. As always the temptation is to steer back to the quotes and try to analyze whether it can make sense to us. Jean-Paul Sartre says – Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat! This quote talks about the importance of being busy and involved in work. This quote is similar to us saying an idle brain is a devil’s workshop. The best thing we can do is keep busy and focus on things that are important to us.
Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat!
Jean Paul Sartre
Rocking the boat refers to creating unnecessary conflict or disturbance that can hinder progress. A busy person doesn’t have time to think about these things. They put their heads down and complete the work. People who are lazy and inactive find other means not only to hamper the progress but to create a sense of self-importance outside of actually doing the work.
Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat!
We are all busy people – all the more reason to get straight to the point. I am tired of sounding like an old nut who just points out the obvious. So, it is pretty clear that the quote is trying to get to the point that you should always be working hard and not focus on petty things.
1.1 Focus on Petty Things:
I suppose this is where the quote makes sense to me. The one constant we all deal is with the paucity of time. The same 24Hrs is accessible to all, and without doubt that is a short time interval. We haven’t been fortunate enough to live in the time of time machines and other fan fictions – so we will plod on to talk about the efficient use of time.
1.2 Efficient use of Time:
I suppose this is where all the witty and famous quotes come into play. When we have the same amount of time, it is imperative to treat this as a precious resource. We have previously talked about mastery of time management.
The more I think about it, the more I realize it is a mere start. We keep getting better with time as we try out different options to optimize the time available to us.
1.3 Conscious Decisions
Yes, we all say that time and tide wait for none. There is also a very strong aspect of emotional management. Most of our thoughts, time and use of it are driven by how we respect it.
Our brains have immense capacity to think of hundreds of different things to think about. It is phenomenal to realize that we are capable of such diversity. At the crux of this is a question – how is this beneficial to me?
The real value I see in this quote is in the question of consciousness of our thoughts. If at each point of thought, we are able to think and identify
- Is this thought useful to me?
- What can I gain out of this?
- How can I make this work for me?
Easier said than done right? Absolutely? But nothing ever gets done without a try. I suppose the question to ask is – how important is this to you?
Rocking the boat
Meaning of rocking the boat: Distractions are a commonplace feature. I can go on about discipline, controlling lines of thought and avoiding distractions. The phrase “rocking the boat” is an idiomatic expression that means to disrupt the status quo or challenge existing norms, often causing controversy or conflict.
It refers to taking actions or expressing opinions that go against the established order or upset the balance of a situation. Rocking the boat is typically associated with initiating change, questioning authority, or advocating for something different, even if it may be uncomfortable or met with resistance. The term suggests a willingness to challenge the prevailing conditions in pursuit of progress or improvement.
I have tried these in the past and failed at it in different ways, but yes it is a huge challenge channeling thoughts and making them work for us all the time.
I have observed that about 90% of the time we have thoughts about most random things. Very few of them are useful or insightful for our being. The more attention we pay to such thoughts the more complicated it gets and we end up running around in circles. If we pay attention to frivolous things, over analysing, brooding, or regretting , we end up rocking the boat. For me, the bad “boat rockers” are the above three.
As you said, sometimes it’s good to rock the boat by questioning our approach, in fact that’s absolutely necessary. Easier said than done but questioning the most obvious sometimes offers great insights. How else would we know our mistakes?
Good to hear from you Jayasurya. I agree – I think it is a really tough one to control all the dimensions our mind goes in. At the same time when we know some of these can be distractions it can be really hard to appreciate them.
I do realise though in the process of being disciplined we end up being a bit hard on ourselves and not appreciating the different dimensions of thought our mind can get into. I suppose this discussion was perhaps a way to question that and understand
– why am I thinking like this
– what is the use I get in this approach?
– how can I make this benefit me?
Granted these questions are perhaps very difficult to develop as second nature but they sure can make a tremendous difference to our approach