“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” – Alfred A. Montapert
There is a big difference between activity and accomplishment. This was demonstrated by a French scientist named Fabre. He conducted an experiment with processionary caterpillars. These caterpillars instinctively follow the one in front of them. Fabre arranged them in a circle on the rim of a flowerpot; thus the lead caterpillar was behind the last one. Fabre put food for the caterpillars in the centre of the flower pot. The caterpillars kept travelling around in a circle on the pot’s rim. Eventually, after a week of circling around, they dropped dead of exhaustion and starvation with food only inches away from them. We need to learn a lesson from the caterpillars. Just because you are doing something, doesn’t mean you are getting anywhere. One must evaluate one’s activity in order to have accomplishment.
If we confuse activity with accomplishment, we could be making great time but we won’t get anywhere.