As programmers, we are inclined to dedicate our lives to constant improvement. We always push our limits to reach the "ultimate success" and wisdom. It's like each of us has been trying to write our own version of the "black book" of programming.
It's ok to start with the highest ambitions at first. Our knowledge is only a fish in the sea, and we have lots of time ahead to explore. Yet, as the process continues, the speed of the technology and development paradigms makes us blind to the cyclic process we are in. After each local success, we tend to raise the bar a little bit instead of slowing ourselves down and accepting the applause. As we increase our speed, our awareness also increases. Thus, we discover that some people have been dealing with much cooler things than we do. We realize that there are so many fishes in the sea. Sooner or later, we will come to realize that we are not even close to reaching the end of the sea. As we dig deeper, the sea grows more.
As the "work smarter, not harder" mantra summarizes: the more we try harder, the more we are likely to be lost in the sea. We might be in the local maxima and need to raise our heads a little. Sometimes we just need to relax. We should sit back and enjoy the view we left behind. If the path seems to get stuck, we can always step back and see new paths. Remember, this is our journey, which is supposed to be fun, and nothing else should matter.
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