Ongoing Lessons from “Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance”
In college I read Robert Persig’s book “Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. It really opened my eyes to the importance of taking time to look at and analyze situations. I had grown up in New York City and the pace of life there was only conducive to doing things quickly. Yet, when I read the book, I learned why focus and patience were necessary to do expand my skills and accomplish tasks with a sense of satisfaction and “job well done.”
The story centers around the writer’s journeys on his motorcycle and the things he had to do to keep his machine running smoothly. In the beginning of the trip, he was not very good at fixing the bike. He felt he had two left thumbs when it came to things mechanical. He resolved this problem simply by giving in to it. He slowed down and took as much time as was needed to fix the bike. This slowed pace and deliberate focus allowed him to see the bike’s issues more clearly and, consequently, allowed him to make the necessary repairs to continue on his journey.
I had my own issues with fixing mechanical things and his lessons were of real value to me. Although I grew up in NYC, my father was a farmer, at heart, and a tinkerer. So, on weekends I spent my time with him repairing things. It was a frustrating relationship for both of us since I had no real mechanical skills and lacked the patience to get good at acquiring them. My father would grow exasperated with my lack of skill as well as my lack of attention to detail.
Yet, after reading the book, I took a new approach. I just slowed down and became patient. I would look at ways to solve the problem before me and it worked! I saw that impatience was the cause of my missing the simple and the obvious. Over the course of a few years, I became competent in fixing and repairing things. Not “good” by any stretch; but, I could now none-the-less repair things mechanical.
Now, decades later, I continue to work slowly and deliberately when I need to repair something. Last month after our dishwasher died, I bought a used one for a fraction of the price of a new one, bought the parts necessary to repair it, did the repair and installed it. It was a job I would never have been able to do had I not been exposed to my father’s training and the lessons learned from Pirsig’s book.
Just recently, I was reminded again of those lessons when I read an article about a famous mathematician who said the most important thing he learned from math was patience. He knew that most times, when working on a complex problem, he would get it wrong. But he also knew that through time, patience and tinkering he could figure it out. He concluded that most people who were not good at math did not take the time necessary to work through the problems. They sped quickly through them expecting to arrive at a right answer. Math, he concluded, is really a training ground for a way to think slowly, deliberately and methodically in order to reach the right conclusion.
Even in the entertainment field, creating something of value takes time. Jerry Seinfeld was once was asked why his show “Seinfeld” was so successful. He shared that he and his partner, Larry David, would spend 90% of their time writing the shows. They would lock themselves in a room and write for hours on end to get the story down, the comedic elements in place and the punchlines exact. To the casual observer, the show seems to flow effortlessly from the comedic talents of the actors; but, what remains unseen, are the countless hours and hours of writing and strategizing that make the show seem so…well…effortless.
I see it in my my own children. They struggle when they take on new tasks. I am forever reminding them that it takes hours and hours of long and thoughtful work to get any type of proficiency. I encourage mistakes and errors as long as the effort and mindset are there to improve. I know that constant work followed by constant improvement are the keys to success.
This past year my twin daughters were awarded athletic scholarships to play division one soccer. The administrators of the club we played with were surprised the girls received such high offers since they don’t play on the highest ranked team. In fact, for a long time, the twins played on what are considered very sub-par teams. Yet, by so doing, they developed even more skills because there wasn’t always that pressure to “win.” Consequently, they were able to play more creatively and focus more on developing skills rather than winning games. This creativity on the field was born of their love for soccer which provided them the impetus to learn the nuances of the game. In the end they were rewarded for taking the time to play the game in the right way…and in the right frame of mind and consciousness.
This is all best summed up in Nature. A tree begins as seed in the ground then establishes its root system before it can begin to rise. Then, slowly, it rises upward and, over time and under the right conditions, is able to bring forth and display its foliage . Its the same with the things in life we are asked to develop. They take time and we need to plant the seeds, do the work, maintain focus and patience before we can display the beauty of what we have set out to accomplish or create.
Steve