It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. ---Carl Friedrich Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), from Germany, was the greatest mathematician of his time. I picked his above quote because it illustrates the duality...and apparent contradiction...involved in areas like goal-planning and self-motivation. You want to learn or accomplish something that currently is beyond your present means, be it not enough skill, connections, money...or whatever. Fulfilling that goal requires a focused and consistent investment of your time and energy...with your future achievement always being forefront in your mind. Yet when it has been attained, most likely you will look back and see that the journey to the goal's end was the meaningful aspect of it all...yet without the goal you would not have set out on that journey. This also dovetails nicely with the message from Paolo Coelho's novel The Alchemist, which I read recently. Gauss is referring to learning and indicates that while it's important to amass knowledge and enlightenment, the road to them is the true jewel of the process. I get what he's saying: I've always liked to study stuff...yet my problem has always been a lack of focused, clear end goals. Regarding mathematics, the true greats in that field...such as the late John Nash...realized that behind all of its complexity, mathematical reasoning can be broken down into a relativity simple...but sometimes elusive...pattern of principles known as "governing dynamics". People like Gauss and Nash always seemed to have clear goals and projects before them, but it was getting down within those dynamics and learning that gave them their true joy. So set clear goals, work to accomplish them...and revel in that process of work...
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