Impatience: The Pitfall of Every Ambitious Person
I'm a big fan of both Robert Greene's <i>Mastery</i> and Leonardo da Vinci, but I think using da Vinci as an example of patience is fairly misleading. After having read numerous biographies on the man, my conclusion is that it's remarkable that he managed to get as much done as he did. He was the ultimate dabbler, interested in and curious about virtually everything. His works took a long time to complete because he generally was distracted by some minor detail for years on end. If the ideal is productivity, then surely Michelangelo is a far better role model.<p>Of course, the <i>real</i> question here is whether productivity is what one should be ultimately aiming at. Doing <i>very few things very well</i> (alternatively, <i>creating a small number of high-quality things</i>) is a better ideal, to my mind.<p><i>'It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.'</i> - Friedrich Nietzsche