When you go home, leave off hungry

One of my favorite books is The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Baltasar Gracian. Written in the 17th Century by a Spanish jesuit philosopher, his collection of wit maxims is still as relevant today as it was then.

One of his aphorisms is “ Leave off hungry”, and it reads like this:

“One ought to remove even the bowl of nectar from the lips. Demand is the measure of value. Even with regard to bodily thirst it is a mark of good taste to slake but not to quench it. Little and good is twice good. The second time comes a great falling off. Surfeit of pleasure was ever dangerous and brings down the ill-will of the Highest Powers. The only way to please is to revive the appetite by the hunger that is left. If you must excite desire, better do it by the impatience of want than by the repletion of enjoyment. Happiness earned gives double joy”

When we are at work, we have to be productive, we have to leave our skin in the game. I understand and I agree; perform and achieve as far and as much as you can. Get the satisfaction from doing your work well, feel the accomplishments and take the rewards.

When we come home, we are “exhausted”, our mind is “fried” and we want to turn off, watch some TV, drink a glass of wine, etc. I do that too, but I learned that I have to leave room for “learning” outside work. When I leave my office, I know that there’s still some excitement about what’s about to happen.

I interviewed “wise people” for my research and they all confessed they were curious about a lot of things, they were constantly reading, learning and experimenting. And what was more amazing is that they would not approach their learning time outside work as an “exclusive” for one or two hobbies. They approached it as inclusive as possible, being curious about the world, about their health, about their communities, about their hobbies.

If you want to avoid burning out, leave work hungry for learning. When you are curious, the world opens new doors for you.

Be curious, leave off hungry and #BeWise

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on February 4, 2016.