When I was young I thought I knew what older people knew and could do what they could.

I planned to do important things while younger than most. I saw no reason I shouldn’t be their peer.

I just had to prepare, not that preparation would take long.

But preparing took longer than I expected. Looking back, I see I couldn’t have done it faster.

Now I’m older, doing what prepared for, and I see why younger people can’t know or do some things, even ones as great as I thought I was.

• ← Ron Potter’s short, no-nonsense review of Leadership Step by Step
• The opposite of consuming unnecessarily is not deprivation or unhappiness →