Last week at the closing of one of my kung fu classes my sifu offered up a final lesson for the session. The teaching resonated deeply with me so I want to take the opportunity to share it here. It's summarized in three simple maxims: (1) don't overthink it, (2) don't over analyze it, and (3) don't compare.

As I thought about these words I knew exactly what Sifu meant in the context of class. I've been studying Wa Lum Tum Toi (northern mantis style kung fu) for decades. Over the years I've seen many students come and go. The system is hard work, there's a steep learning curve and it takes a toll on your body. But you get out of it what you put into it. If you train hard your body responds and you find yourself thinking more clearly, physically reacting more sharply, and possessed of a serenity that manifests in all aspects of life.

The reason for the lesson that night was that we have a mix of students of varying degrees. Some have been at it longer than others and the range of ages in the class is from youthful high-schoolers to retirees in their seventies! With such a mix of talent, experience, and physical constraints, it's inevitable that you see differences in performance of the system forms -- the exercises that comprise the kung fu curriculum. And that's what prompted the lesson.

Don't overthink it. Free your mind to act. When learning something new (a new kung fu form, for example) it's easy to fall prey to overthinking things. Some of the forms in our system literally can take up to 15 minutes to complete and involve hundreds of moves. The thing is, all the moves can be broken down into basic chunks that form the core of the system. And the way you learn these building blocks is through practice and repetition. There's no magical, easy way in. Learning kung fu, or learning anything else for that matter, takes effort. From kung fu to art to mathematics, if you are not afraid to put in the effort you eventually get to a place where you no longer have to think. Given enough practice, the moves come naturally and seem effortless. So in following the path to excellence, don't overthink things. You'll struggle at first -- it's inevitable. But if you keep at it, eventually you'll simply flow like water. In the words of Bruce Lee: "be water".

Don't over analyze it. This second maxim is calling upon us to break out of the tendency toward over analysis. It might seem paradoxical coming from an information scientist -- someone swimming daily in the tools and techniques of quantitative analytics -- but there is an art to analysis. We need to analyze processes enough to achieve understanding, to streamline and optimize, but only just enough and not too much more. In kung fu we analyze scenarios to understand force and kinematics at a visceral level. But, again, you reach a point where you can't spend all your time over analyzing a situation. So analysis is great and necessary. But the teaching is to be careful about overanalyzing a situation which can lead to inaction. If you're in a sparring match, and your opponent throws a kick, you just need to block it in the simplest way. Sometimes you just need to act! Programming, though different from kung fu, is the same. It's far too easy to worry whether your solution is eloquent enough, or uses the latest and greatest language feature, when more often than not the simplest function gets the job done in the most usable and maintainable way.

Don't compare. It is this last point that, perhaps, resonated most deeply with me that evening. But what does it mean, really? If you've ever had an interest in pursuing some activity -- say, art, for example -- and become intimidated in comparing your work to others then you might start to get the idea. As I mentioned, there are many students in my kung fu class ranging widely in age and body type. And everyone has different reasons for coming to class. If a novice falls into the trap of comparing their performance to someone who's been at it for years it'd be easy to get discouraged and depressed. I feel that societal demands, wrongly, often lead to this kind of thinking in many facets of life. From earliest childhood on we're constantly being compared and evaluated against others, when in fact each individual has unique strengths and talents that they can bring to the table, given half a chance.

The beauty of this wisdom is it obviously doesn't just apply to kung fu. To me, these teachings are profoundly relevant to many spheres of life. Reflecting on the principles I'm reminded of a phrase I first learned from a student of mine when I taught java programming for Sun Microsystems many years ago; "paralysis by analysis". I love this phrase because it so aptly describes a tendency we all fall prey to, especially in this age of information overflow. With so much in our environment vying for our attention, it's too easy to spend all our time over analyzing a situation and get nothing done. In software engineering and project planning, the tendency toward over analysis is a major consideration in the dialectic between "cascade" approaches to project planning verses "agile" methodologies. But that's a major discussion which I'll set aside for another time.

Comparing ourselves and our performance against others is a trap. Unfortunately though, it's a pitfall too easy to fall into given the competitive demands of our environment. Unnecessarily comparing ourselves and our performance to others can harm the ego in many ways. One is over inflation. For whatever reason, it's all too common to observe the cognitive bias in many individuals who tend to overestimate their abilities and accomplishments. I'll never forget walking into the office one morning to hear a newly hired young programmer proclaim; "I'm a genius! I wrote a script months ago that I just re-used this morning!" 'Turns out the script amounted to a glorified file-copy on a linux system. But my point is to try to be self-aware enough to have pride in one's strengths but have enough humility to recognize one's limits. In my opinion, one doesn't proclaim oneself a genius. Genius is recognized by others.

But the other side of the coin also holds true. While true that there's a tendency in some to overestimate their competence there are tendencies in others to underestimate their capabilities and achievements. As a lover of art, for example, I've recently discovered the joy of painting with oils. But attending a recent art studio session (part of my continuous efforts toward lifelong learning) I became intimidated seeing the masterful work produced by other artists in attendance. But, again, at a subsequent session, another artist offered the same simple advice as my kung fu sifu; "don't compare your work to others". Every artist has their own style -- that's what makes you an artist. Who can compare Van Gogh to Leonardo Da Vinci? Frank Frazetta is vastly inspirational to me as an artist and yet spent much time drawing comic books (which, again, is another topic worthy of more elaborate discussion). But, say what you will about the merits of comics as a form of art, one of his original paintings (an illustration for a pulp magazine) recently sold for over five million dollars.

My point is that it's often useless to attempt to judge our own efforts and achievements by way of comparison against others. Recently, I've been hearing the term "imposter syndrome" along with concern over its concomitant features of self-doubt, perfectionism and anxiety. It seems that it's become increasingly easy to lower one's self-estimation in our new information age with increasing demands for workplace and social comparison. Instead, I feel it's increasingly important not to get discouraged upon seeing amazing work and the achievements of others and feeling that our own creative efforts fall short in comparison. Instead I'll have to ask that you please allow me the cliche; whatever you may end up doing in life, whatever path you may walk, just がんばってね . Do your best.