Hi Roland,

The objective is not idleness or doing, as you say, “the minimum.” It’s about cozying up to the amount of accomplishment you were probably going to have anyway, minus the stress and striving to be more than you’re likely ever to be. Striving to transcend our capacities (as so many of us regularly do) only leads to excessive stress, self-scorn, and the opposite of its intended effect—which is to say, it causes a drop in productivity, happiness, and our ability to live up to our potential as we divide our attention between too many projects and devote energy to pursuits that are unlikely to pay off.

The point is this: we ought only to worry about living up to our potential, but not beyond it.