Stress VS Relaxation

"One must know the so-called 'lesson of a downpour.' A man caught in a sudden rain en route, dashes along the road not to get wet or drenched. Once one takes it for granted that in the rain he naturally gets wet, he can be in a tranquil frame of mind even when soaked to the skin. This lesson applies to everything."

-Yamamoto Tsunetomo

I found this quote on one of my profiles today, its from the book 'Hagakure.' If you aren't familiar with the book it was written by a samurai a few hundred years ago as a guide for other samurai to follow in their everyday lives. I think the quote really fits in with a concept I have been thinking about lately, the idea of stress VS relaxation. In school, many of my friends would work hours on end to complete projects, while others would totally blow things off all together. I always felt that I kept a good balance by doing what was expected of me to get what I wanted and then not go any further. The result is I would spend about 3 hours on something and get a B+ or A-. The people who worked 12 hours would get As, or sometimes the same grade as me. I felt that getting a slightly lower grade was worth it because I was able to use my time doing things I liked. THe hard workers would call me lazy but at the same time they seemed to make their lives miserable.

The quote above relates to this because what I have done is accepted the reality of the situation. If people only expect a certain amount of work out of you and you do that, you have gotten to your goal. There are certain cases where you must go beyond that to impress them or to do them a favor, but that is not the norm. Many people spend so much time working hard and getting no credit for it, its just like trying to run through the downpour. Once you get wet, you are wet, and once your work is done, it is done. Whats the point of going betond that if its just going to make you miserable. This is just my way of thinking and its served me well.