64: Beginning, Middle and End

The wise project manger doesn't do too much and does not worry about getting the credit for having done something. Because he has no expectations, no outcome can be called a failure.

Lao Tzu tells us:

Peace is easily maintained;

Trouble is easily overcome before it starts.

The brittle is easily shattered;

The small is easily scattered.

Deal with it before it happens.

See things in order before there is confusion.

A tree as great as a man’s embrace springs from a small shoot;

A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;

A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet.

He who acts defeats his own purpose;

He who grasps looses.

The sage does not act, and so is not defeated.

He does not grasp and therefore does not loose.

People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.

So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;

Then there will be no failure.

Therefore the sage seeks freedom from desire.

He does not collect precious things.

He learns not to hold onto ideas.

He brings men back to what they have lost.

He helps the ten thousand things find their own nature,

But refrains from action.