Seth Godin wrote an interesting post about path finding a little while back and it struck me that I get very easily frustrated by the two path-finding extremes.

Those that never look for a new path—the typists rather than the writers—stagnate and mire themselves in complacency’s stationary momentum. I’m sure there are people for whom such quiescence is comforting, but for me it is maddening.

Alternately, those that find themselves constantly in the weeds trying to find a new path are an energy sink—they (we, at times?) are draining emotionally and mentally to those around them with the constant, rigorous pursuit of improvement at all costs.

I tend to err on the side of the latter, and have to remain vigilant that I’m not sacrificing completely acceptable progress in pursuit of marginal gains. I do often ask myself though, since I mostly find a path by trial and error, is there a faster way? Are there better ways to see if the path I’m on is at least close to optimal? Right now I simply use observation of those around me, is that the best way?

So many questions.