Working with other people is hard if you like to work fast. You have to slow down, compromise and wait for people to catch up to your pace. For students who work on class projects this slower pace can be a brutal experience. Going alone is so much faster and you’re judged by your own efforts, not the efforts of others. Yet, cooperating with others brings a measure of long-term success that is much grander than what could have ever been created alone. Slowing down and pooling the talents of many people towards a common goal is worth the effort.

Finding our purpose in life is a confusing journey with competing forces acting against us. On the one hand, there’s the force of our family background and history telling us who we should be. And then there’s our hopes and dreams which inspire us to look ahead and be the author of our own future. Balancing these two forces, in right and honorable ways, is a life-long challenge.

Thinking about the right way to act requires patient and careful thought. Acting from a good conscience in this way conveys strength and confidence. But our conscience also makes us feel weak; oftentimes we don’t know what the right choices are and so we are plagued by indecision and fear. Doing the right thing becomes a burden too great to bear and we turn to our instincts to bail us out. Thinking before acting can be cowardly or brave, depending on the situation.