“Enjoy what is, and not pine for what is not. Read some good, heavy, serious books just for discipline: Take yourself in hand and master yourself. Make yourself do unpleasant things, so as to gain the upper hand of your soul.”
- Brother W. E. B. Du Bois, in a letter to his daughter, 1914
W. E. B. Du Bois was a member of Widow’s Sons Lodge No. 1, the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut.
The best energy I receive is prioritizing tasks and do the hardest ones first. Most of the rest come easy thereafter. Great philosophy for me anyway. My occupation (pre retirement) was as a Design Engineer and I specialized in projects that no-one else wanted, partly due to having a nasty boss! However, when the dust settled, the personal satisfaction and energy for me was indescribable. Thanks for the idea!
That is a great quote. The need to push yourself outside your comfort zone to grow and gain a semblance of self mastery has been expounded by many people for a long time. A couple thousand years ago Propertius said "Great is the road I climb, but the garland offered by an easier effort is not worth the gathering." More recently Jim Rohn painted it in this light "We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment." As Jon said, there is a ton of personal satisfaction that comes out of it, which then builds on itself and can lead down incredible paths.