Blindly furious diligence, for example, the typical virtue of an instrument, is represented as the way to riches and honour, and as the most beneficial antidote to tedium and passion : but people are silent concerning its danger, its greatest dangerousness. Education proceeds in this manner throughout: it endeavours, by a series of enticements and advantages, to determine the individual to a certain mode of thinking and acting, which, when it has become habit, impulse and passion, rules in him and over him, in opposition to his ultimate advantage, but ” for the general good.” How often do I see that blindly furious diligence does indeed create riches and honours, but at the same time deprives the organs of the refinement by virtue of which alone an enjoyment of riches and honours is possible; so that really the main expedient for combating tedium and passion, simultaneously blunts the senses and makes the spirit refractory towards new stimuli!

– Nietzsche, The Gay Science

Don’t get stuck in one path for too long, especially if it gives you what you want. The most powerful form of self-deception is the one you trust the most.

Nietzsche describes an individual that is too familiar; the lawyer who has spent too many years honing his craft, training his mind to think and feel a certain way. Careful and analytical, he becomes blind to life’s pleasures, and to the things that can justify his sacrifices.

The foregoing of too much for too little is not a typical problem – it is usually the reverse for most people. But if you belong in the former category, you usually have no way of knowing how you are being blinded by your own diligence. An instrument is suitable for this kind of intensity, but not so much an agent – that is, if you wish to remain an agent. The person that wants to be free must not be too efficient, otherwise, they become nothing but the tool. Their identity becomes inseparable from their function.

You may be effective to society and gain the material rewards you crave, but you have forgotten how to enjoy them. Your laborious lifestyle has subdued your senses. This doesn’t mean that you should not work hard or pursue a challenging career, but it is important to routinely break away from routine.

When you disrupt the regular flow of activity that you are engulfed in, you gain a fresh perspective, and a new appreciation for life. It is the antidote to one of the most pernicious forms of self-deception.