During a discussion with a coworker today I realized I had said too much. It would have been better if I had left off speaking after my point had been made and clearly understood. But no, I decided to lay in with an extra thirty-seconds of explanation just to hear myself speak. This was clearly not necessary and superfluous to my aim. I would have been better to hold my tongue.
But, is it better to speak less in a more absolute sense? If so, then how about being silent always? For if silence is golden, then imagine the luster of perfect quiet. I think not. As complete silence may miss the mark of living. We may as well then be dead, that is, unless the very fact of our living communicates some message in its own right, like being the queen of England. But we are not kings or queens or sovereigns in any sense other than in being the potential masters of our own moments, and maybe not even that. And so, I’ll speak up and talk and share my thoughts. Sometimes these words will be in excess, sometimes they will be just enough, sometimes they may fail altogether. This is the idea behind the principle of the Bullseye Aim; that we try, and we strive, and we sometimes hit the mark, but mostly we miss the mark, the benefit being the disciplined act of trying.
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.