Flow and decisions - almost a parable

(I forget exactly but I’m pretty sure this is from an Alan Watts lecture).

A farmer needs some help around his farm. He puts up a sign in town, asking for someone with general skills to help around the farm.

A gent arrives two days later with his toolkit, the farmer welcomes him and tells him there are some broken fences on the north side of his farm.

The gent heads over to the area, spends the day fixing the fences, and comes back in the evening to tell the farmer it’s done.

“Already??” The farmer is amazed. He’d seen that as 3 or 4 days of work.

The farmer tells the gent to come back tomorrow if he’d like more work. He then goes to check the fence and is very impressed with what he sees.

The next day, the gent comes back, and the farmer gives him a more challenging task, to fix the roof of a barn.

It’s easily a week’s work.

The gent comes to the farmer at the end of the second day and tells the farmer it’s done.

“Already??” Again the farmer is amazed, tells the gent he’ll see him tomorrow and goes to check the work. Like the fences, the farmer is impressed.

Now the farmer has a problem, this is the best helper he’s had but he’s running out of work for him.

When the gent arrives the next day, the farmer tells him to head down to the basement, the potato harvest is there. The farmer asks the gent to sort the potatoes into 3 piles; one for selling at the market, one for seeding, and one for throwing away.

At the end of the day the gent comes to the farmer and tells him he’s quitting.

“No! You can’t quit, you are the best helper I’ve had. The fence was as strong as new, the roof as water proof as ever. Why do you want to quit??”

“Well” the gent says, “fixing the fence and the roof are my skills, the work flows. But this potato malarkey… It is just decision after decision after decision. I can’t keep it up "

#BeingHuman #AlanWatts #Flow #Decisions #DecisionFatigue #AINative