Ability to Make Impact is the Cause of Pressue

Talked with a nice taxi driver again today. Recently, it seems the only window I have interaction with this city is taxi driver. :-) Wendy drive me to Metro and I take ride of the Metro to People’s Square – I saw a lot of people – really a LOT in rush hours, but there is no interaction. Everyone is busy with their own goal, and there is only a destination in their mind, all the advertisement, people around them are just moving object (maybe gray boxes) for them, and does not mean anything to them. It is the same for people around them. The Metro runs at 3 minutes interval. Within the 3 minutes, the platform will be full of people quickly.

Daily life in Shanghai gives people pressure – you can feel it in the eyes of the people in Metro and the fast pace of people. When I was in Lijiang, I remember when the bus we took entered a gas station, the bus driver went away from the bus and chatted with the other bus driver for quite some time – since the bus was filled anyway, and no one complained about their absence from the bus – they just cannot make any impact when the bus was parked there, with workers filled in the gas. I thought the scene is very interesting because if the driver stopped in the middle way on our road, we can not imagine our driver get off the bus and chat – because when he is driving, the time we need to get to the destination all depends on how fast the driver drivers. Whether he seats in the bus or not makes big difference. So the driver has the pressure.

This example shows that when the bus was filled with gas, the driver cannot make much impact, he does not feel the pressure. When what he does makes big impact, especially impacting the full bus of people, he feels the pressure and don’t have time for free chat.

In Shanghai as a city, it also works.

When I visited a place (during my trip of the 30N 119E confluence project), I found a small town. People there lead very peaceful life. The are connected to the outside world only by two buses – one leaves around 11:00 AM and one around 1:00 PM. When they wait for bus, they can easily wait there for about one hour, having nothing to do. When they realize no matter how fast their paces are, there are still only two schedule of the bus, so their change does not make impact, and they don’t feel the pressure.

In Shanghai, it is different. If you walk a little bit faster, may be just save 3 seconds, you may be able to catch a previous Metro train. If you save one second, you may be able to reach out to the button of the elevator before the door fully closes. Most largely, if I sleep half an hour later, maybe I can impact a lot of users national wide, then I may choose to sleep another half an hour later. The feeling that if I do something, and I can make impact, people tend to do that. By continuously doing that, we creat pressure for ourselves.

Sometimes to read book in a hotel room, especially when there is no laptop is the best time for me – at this time, there is not too much to do, and the pressure, just disappears. It works like a charm.

P.S http://bbs.wangjianshuo.com seems to be experiencing problems – well, to be more exactly, was hacked. I wasn’t be able to take care of the site for quite some time, and sorry for the inconvinience. I may try to roll back to a previous version (by paying ipowerweb.com), but I don’t know when I can find time to do it – may be after one week. For the Wiki, there are also a lot of spams. //Sign. To start something is easy, to maintain it is not. How about just let it be for sometime and I promise to find some time to fix it.

10 thoughts on “Ability to Make Impact is the Cause of Pressue

  1. I think the cause of pressure is people’s attitude – what do they think good life should be like. for greedy people they are always under pressure – thinking how they are able to have better life(making more money) – sadly they are among those who have the poorest quality of life.

  2. Jian Shuo,

    Thanks for continuing to post in what must be a very hectic business and personal schedule. You have already shown great persistence by keeping your blog going in the past few years.

  3. I think it’s the ability, and desire as well, to make an impact that cause unsatisfatory..

    because we are so busy everyday.. and so into the things we are doing.. we mentally turned smaller things to big things. then the stress just starts to increase from there..

    i saw this quote not long ago: “1. don’t sweat small things. 2. all things are a small things”

  4. 有同感,在上海活的很忙.

    本来去参加健身房的活动,想放松一下,发现更累,因为下班后再花时间去挤车,在上海是一件累人的事情.

  5. You observation inspires me to think about this phenomenon about pressure. However, I am more apt to believe that the only thing make us feel presure, is fear for presure itself .

  6. I think it’s the ability, and desire as well, to make an impact that cause unsatisfatory..

    because we are so busy everyday.. and so into the things we are doing.. we mentally turned smaller things to big things. then the stress just starts to increase from there..

    i saw this quote not long ago: “1. don’t sweat small things. 2. all things are a small things”

  7. the pressure is all because people are needy, and greedy. the nature of human being. the spirit of the evolution.

  8. I just read an article yesterday and found it very inspiring. I paste it here to share with everyone.

    “The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

    When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee…

    A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

    He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

    The professor then picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

    He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

    The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

    Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

    He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”

    The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

    Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things-your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions — things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

    The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else — the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room or the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

    Play with your children.

    Take time to get medical checkups.

    Take your partner out to dinner.

    Play another 18.

    There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

    Take care of the golf balls first — the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

    One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

    Please share this with someone you care about.

    I JUST DID. ”

  9. Olaha, I think that’s backward. Everyone has the exact same amount of time, the only difference is in how people use their time. A person has a choice to invest their time in idleness or in productive activity. In general, city life involves less wasted time, because it is easier to get most things you need. Commuting is not idle if used to support a productive activity (like work), and you can use commute time to listen to audiobooks, talk on cellphone, or whatever. People in a village can feel equally pressured as city folk, if they feel a need to use all of their time for non-idle purposes. However, I feel city people are more pressured — for two primary reasons. First is that it’s more expensive; if you don’t work really hard, you will never make enough to survive in the city. Second is that you are surrounded by other people who show off their accomplishments and you naturally compare yourself to them and want to compete.

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