Too little
The ceremonial warm-up
I went through the motions; that counts.
Completion on paper conceals the attention the task was meant to receive.
Diligence
Give the quiet parts of preparation their proper care.
Readiness to sustain due care in worthwhile effort.
Diligence sustains attention to worthwhile work, including the parts that attract little notice. Sporting preparation has many moments that cannot compete with a spectacular finish. Giving those moments their due is a way of taking the activity seriously, without confusing care with endless repetition.
Diligence gives preparation that has actually been done
Before basketball practice, you work through a familiar footwork sequence. The hoop waits nearby, offering a much better scene for your imaginary highlights reel. You nearly skip the awkward part of the sequence; nobody is filming that anyway. Then you return to it and complete it with attention. The basket will have to wait its turn. For once, the least spectacular part of practice has received the full performance.
Finding the balance in Diligence
A player is tempted to rush familiar preparation in favor of the more satisfying part of basketball practice.
A fitting response
Due care
I skipped that part. I’ll give it the attention it needs.
The player completes the agreed work to a considered standard.
Pursued too far
Preparation without an end
I must repeat this until no imperfection remains.
Care becomes a demand for perfection that crowds out the activity it should support.
Diligence asks whether the work received due care, not whether preparation consumed the whole session.
What Diligence makes possible
Attentive preparation makes it easier to know what you have actually practiced. It also makes shared sessions more dependable: other people can work with what you bring, rather than with an impressive account of it. Progress is not guaranteed, but the record of the work becomes less imaginary.
Diligence in ordinary life
The practice record
Record the work you did, including the unremarkable attempts, so the next session begins from evidence.
An agreed responsibility
Check the part of a shared task that others will rely on, and tell them early if you cannot complete it.
Nearby virtues, different work
Perseverance
Perseverance renews worthwhile effort through setbacks. Diligence gives due care to the work already in hand, including uneventful days.
Temperance
Temperance considers how much room the activity takes. Diligence concerns the quality of attention within that room.
Diligence and its counterfeits
An impressive record
A long list of completed drills may conceal hurried work. Diligence is not established by the length of the list.
Never quite ready
Repeated checking can look conscientious while postponing the task the preparation was meant to serve.
How to cultivate Diligence
Identify what deserves attention before familiar movements become automatic box-ticking.
Notice when the attractive part of the session is pulling you away from an agreed task.
Finish to an appropriate standard and move on.
Try it today
Give one familiar part of preparation your full attention, then stop at the standard the task calls for.
Questions worth returning to
- What part of the work am I counting without attending to it?
- What would count as enough care here?
Quotations and further reading
Seven selections to return to through the week. Follow a source link to read the surrounding passage.
Gradually, item by item, I learned the location of every screw and spring, spoke and tire, and every beam and bearing that went to make up Gladys. This was not the lesson of a day, but of many days and weeks, and it had to be learned before we could get on well together.
Frances E. Willard · A Wheel within a Wheel · The Process
Willard’s bicycle, Gladys, becomes familiar through repeated attention to its parts. Due care includes knowing the equipment on which an enjoyable activity depends, without turning every session into inspection.
A golden rule for every bowler to observe is—after the batsman has played the ball, get back to the wicket as quickly as possible. Neglect of this rule loses many a ‘run out.’
A. G. Steel · Cricket · Chapter III · Bowling
Steel makes a small return to position consequential to the next play. Diligence gives attention to the uneventful part between conspicuous actions.
The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work.
William James · Talks to Teachers and to Students · The Laws of Habit
James values reliable habits because they free attention for harder work. Care with a familiar footwork sequence can serve that purpose; the routine earns its place by helping the player participate.
Again we see actors and singers on the stage oftentimes slack and remiss, and not taking sufficient pains about their performances in the theatres when they have it all to themselves; but when there is a competition and contest with others, they not only wake up but tune their instruments, and adjust their chords, and play on the flute with more care.
Plutarch notices performers preparing more carefully when others challenge them. Rivalry can wake attention; diligence carries that care into sessions without an audience.
Habits and faculties are necessarily affected by the corresponding acts. Those that were not there before, spring up: the rest gain in strength and extent.
Epictetus · The Golden Sayings of Epictetus · Saying LXXV · Hastings Crossley translation
Epictetus connects dispositions with the acts repeated under them. Giving a familiar sequence sustained attention can make care familiar, rather than reserve it for an important event.
A great many players seem unable to keep steadily at work, and play a careless or slashing stroke every now and then.
James Dwight · Lawn-Tennis · How to Learn to Play
Dwight notices care dropping away in isolated strokes. The player who skips a familiar step meets the same temptation: attention wanders before the task is complete.
A bowler should be ready to take any place in the field when he is not bowling.
A. G. Steel · Cricket · Chapter III · Bowling
The player’s contribution continues between turns in the prominent role. Care includes the work the team still needs when personal attention has moved elsewhere.
Continue through the catalog
Practice this collection
Choose this approved collection as an optional workbook program, or select individual virtues in My Virtues.