You know, in some Asian stories, you find someone who wants to learn from an old master. And, they must "keep a pure heart" on the matter. Whether it is to master a sword, or to carve a statue, it is always important that they not lose their way.

I used to think those were very silly, though now, I can see that there is a certain kind of purity of pursuit required to truly master something. And, ideas of money or profit or other impure thoughts, contaminate the process and halt it.

If one must swing a sword with a pure pursuit of mastering the sword. Then, is it any wonder we fail to master coding, or art, or game-dev with an impure heart?

Not at all, it now seems to me, to be the only possible outcome.

To set forth onto a journey burdened down with heavy weights, is a good way to exhaust yourself and never reach your destination.

It is no different if your heart is burdened by the stress and anxiety of impure thoughts.

I read it all the time (said it a bunch myself), "I don't have energy to work on this right now." And, then I go join an intense hellthread for hours, or go into some deep optimization in Factorio....

The problem wasn't that I needed more energy, the problem was with my heart being burdened.