Ancient Chinese Management Trainer
Today as I did some planning for the remaining work on my thesis, the phrase “A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step” popped into my head. It’s a good bit of inspiration for anyone embarking on a large task. I couldn’t quite remember the origin, so I googled it.
It’s from the Tao Te Ching, that wonderful (and short) book of Chinese philosophy, for which there are as many different English translations as there are spring rolls at a Chinese food buffet (next time you’re in Chapters look for the Tao Te Ching shelf…).
I happened across this page that suggested
Rather than emphasizing the first step, Lau Tzu regarded action as something that arises naturally from stillness. Another potential phrasing would be “Even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”
Which made my happy little “go get your work done” slogan sound like it belonged on a motivational poster and not in an ancient wise text. I suppose that means the way the Tao sounds depends a lot on the translator. For example, a quick search turned up an online version that contains the “first step” translation:
Prevent problems before they arise.
Take action before things get out of hand.
The tallest tree
begins as a tiny sprout.
The tallest building
starts with one shovel of dirt.
A journey of a thousand miles
starts with a single foot step.
It’s too bad Lao-Tzu wasn’t around today, he could make a killing on management training seminars. An alternative translation of the same passage reads:
Yet a tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot;
A dam greater than a river can overflow starts with a clod of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one’s feet.Therefore deal with things before they happen;
Create order before there is confusion.
A cynic (quite unlike me) might posit that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a blog post”.
The stephen Mitchell translation is still the best…it captures the beauty of the language without sounding trite and the annotations are great.
Even though Lao-Tzu is not around today, Taoism has influenced lots of Chinese on the way they thought as the law of Virtue for thousands of years and Tao Te Ching is one of most-influenced Chinese Philosophy books.
No matter how many different kinds of English versions for Tao Te Ching, actually the meaning between the lines are actually the same. I believe that the sentence “Therefore deal with things before they happen; Create order before there is confusion.” is inappropriate to put here, for it means totally different from others.
Jamie, “A perfect blog post begins with a right word.”