Leadership Lessons from Confucius: new insights and experiences

Zixia said: “If you recognize day by day what you still need to learn and do not forget month by month what you have already learned, you truly love learning!”
子夏曰：「日知其所亡，月無忘其所能，可謂好學也已矣！」

There are no shortcuts to mastering a subject, skill, or language. The only way to accumulate the necessary expertise and knowledge is to put in the hours through regular study and practice. This may not sound like much fun, but the longer you work away at it the more you will start to enjoy the pleasure of diving deeper and deeper below the surface and finding captivating new insights and experiences that you never knew existed before.

Notes

This article features a translation of Chapter 5 of Book 19 of the Analects of Confucius. You can read my full translation of Book 19 here.

(1) The learning model that Zixia advocates in this passage is just as practical today as it was during his time. So much for progress!

(2) Zixia’s advice reflects Confucius’s statement in the very first line of the Analects: “Is it not a pleasure to study and constantly apply the lessons that you have learned?”

(3) As mentioned in 19.4, Zixia is referring to learning the way of Confucius. However, the methodology can be applied to any skill or subject. Indeed, he goes on to point out in 19.7 that “an exemplary person learns to master the way” just as “artisans of all types live in their workshops to master their trade.”

I shot this image in a hillside temple on the Four Beasts near to Taipei.