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One who tries to start a fire doesn't have firm footing. One who analyzes himself doesn't become prominent. One who pays attention to himself doesn't open up. One who cuts himself down is without achievement. One who brags about himself doesn't grow. Those who are influenced by Dao say: Preparing too much food is wasted effort. Any living thing might be hated. Therefore, one who has desires will never rest.   Commentary: 24 ~ Are You Overworking Yourself? It might seem like there's always so much that needs to be done - sometimes there are more tasks ahead of you than could ever be accomplished in the allotted time span. With the burdens of work, family, social obligations, household chores, bills that need to be paid, phone calls to return, email to answer, and still fitting in a little time to pursue a favorite hobby or activity, or spending time on personal goals - something will obviously not get done. And yet, you start out in the morning with the objective of completing everything, and doing it perfectly. No wonder you feel stressed out! Maybe you're expending too much energy on each task. -One who tries to start a fire doesn't have firm footing. In ancient China fires were started by igniting a little spark then blowing on it repeatedly until the wood began flaming. Picture in your mind a person trying to stand still while blowing all the air out of his lungs over and over. He'd eventually get very dizzy and start losing his balance. This can be likened to any project you might start. You might be in such a hurry to get things going that you go full throttle before it's necessary. Maybe you're trying to impress your boss with how quickly you can get things underway. If you move too quickly at the beginning you can lose your balance by expending a lot of unnecessary energy. -One who analyzes himself doesn't become prominent. Some people get so involved in the pre-planning stages that by the time they get to the real work they've already exhausted themselves. You might want to make sure that no detail has been overlooked before you actually begin a project. It's like the carpenter who's told to measure twice then cut once. That doesn't mean you have to measure a hundred times! If you spend too much time analyzing yourself and the project you’re working on, trying to avoid any tiny thing that could cause you to fail, you might never finish it. What good would that be? -One who pays attention to himself doesn't open up. If you’re too self-conscious you might miss a great opportunity. If you're so riveted on your own performance without considering how what you do can work best within the context of what the group is trying to achieve, then you won't see how others can help you. If you have a sense of arrogance about what you're doing - as though no one else would have to ability to accom- plish what you can - then you'd always be looking for ways to prove how incompetent others are. That's a ridiculous waste of energy. -One who cuts himself down is without achievement. How much time do you spend thinking that you'll never be good enough? Maybe every time you get a little spark inside you that tells you that you really do have the ability to fulfill the task at hand, you start counting off all the reasons why you're inadequate. What happens when you finally finish the job? Do you then look for all the flaws, condemning yourself for not doing better? If all that energy is being expended in cutting yourself down, how could you ever hope to finish anything? There might always be a project you've started but never finished - adding another task to the list. -One who brags about himself doesn't grow. On the other hand, you might be the kind of person who spends a lot of time telling other people what a wonderful job you've done. You heap praise on yourself and spend lots of time crowing like a rooster on top of a hen house - look at me! Tell me how great I am! By doing that you run the risk of not giving others the opportunity to show you how things could be done better. You might become so involved in singing your praises that you'd never progress beyond being a boring braggart. -Those who are influenced by Dao say: -Preparing too much food is wasted effort. -Any living thing might be hated. -Therefore, one who has desires will never rest. Can you see how you might have been expending too much energy unecessarily? The Laozi compares that to preparing too much food. If you put out too much energy in an effort to please everyone, you’ll eventually be disappointed. You just can’t make everyone happy. As long as you want to be perceived as someone who's "special" and never makes a mistake, you'll always be stressed out. Look for ways that you overwork yourself in your daily life, and ask yourself why you do it - and how you can be satisfied with what you actually can accomplish. Alternate translation: If you start out too fast, you’ll make yourself dizzy. If you try to be perfect, you won’t accomplish anything. If you only think about how you’re doing, you won’t get help from anyone else. .If you don’t think you can do anything right, you won’t finish anything. If you tell others how great you’re doing, you won’t get any better. People who do the best with what they have to work with say: Don’t waste so much energy on that stuff. No one can be loved by everyone. If you keep trying to accomplish that, you’ll just wear yourself out. 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