A Tale of Good Judgement How do you handle a complicated task that is of trivial importance? This interesting event happened in the Northern Wei dynasty, a period of political chaos and economic devastation in which China was unfortunately in disunity. A powerful nobleman named Gao Hwan wanted to test his sons’ crisis management skills. One day, he gave each of the sons some knotted and tangled silk strings and demanded they straighten them out. All of the sons mindfully tried to untangle the mess, except one son, Gao Yan. After watching his brothers fumble and tug at the knotted strings, he drew his sword and chopped the bundles into little pieces. His brothers were amazed and dumbfounded and his father questioned him about this unusual behavior. “It is simple,” the dauntless son answered. “Which one is more important—my time or resolving this mess? What is the trade-off for the loss of the former and the gain of the later? Whatever is too complicated to be resolved within a reasonable amount of time is a total waste and not worth my attention. To chop it up and throw it away, with little loss, I think, is the most effective method in dealing with such a problem.” The nobleman was greatly pleased with his son’s actions. After a few years, this son dethroned the emperor and crowned himself. People often focus on resolving a problem and forget the cost of the procedure. As a result, they frequently spend their precious time on trivialities for pitiable gain. Time, one of the most valuable and also overlooked commodities, should always be calculated when handling a dilemma. Whoever treasures it will get the most out of life. From “Wisdom’s Way” by Walton Lee lvmanow
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:30:00 +0000
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