Leadership Lessons from Confucius: stuck in the mud

Zixia said: “Although there is a lot to see when you stroll along the byways, you risk getting stuck in the mud if you have to travel far. That is why an exemplary person should avoid them.”
子夏曰：「雖小道，必有可觀者焉；致遠恐泥，是以君子不為也。」

How committed are you to achieving the goal you have set for yourself? How much time and energy do you spend working towards it? How often do you allow yourself to be enticed by other bright shiny objects that beckon you with more alluring promises of wealth and fame?

At a time when a hit of self-gratification is just a click or two away, it is far easier than ever to slip off the highway and find yourself stuck in a mud-caked byway with no idea how you ever got there in the first place.

Notes

This article features a translation of Chapter 4 of Book 19 of the Analects of Confucius. You can read my full translation of Book 19 here.

(1) In contrast with the extroverted Zizhang, Zixia was one of the more conventional, some might say pedantic, followers of Confucius. He had no time for fripperies and was relentlessly focused on applying the teachings of the sage in his own life and inculcating them in the students who joined his school.

(2) Most commentators suggest that Zixia is referring to specialist skills like agriculture and medicine when he talks about byways. Like Confucius, Zixia did not necessarily underestimate the value of these subjects. However, he saw it as his duty to making sure that his students stuck to the moral highway laid out by the sage.

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