The first rule of survival is that you must always be doing something.
It could be hunting. It could be chopping wood. It could be making tools or clothing or food.
It’s the first rule because survival takes a huge amount of effort. It’s a constant struggle just to get enough food.
But every one of us is a survivor.
The amount of energy required to survive is so much that as soon that ferociously powerful brain of ours gets time to stop and think, we are instantly overwhelmed.
That’s what powers the ticking clock within us. The nervous itch, the restless tapping of our feet — it’s all because the ancient ape within is wondering how the hell we’re going to survive if we’re just sitting there.
We must move.
So we work. We make. We explore.
Or we dampen the urge with drink and drugs and food and fighting; we consume.
We made fishing hooks and wheels and philosophy and farms and skyscrapers and the blockchain all because that curious chimp couldn’t sit still.
The devil will make work for our idle thumbs, if we let him.
Only daily practice, kaizen, a future self, can keep him quiet.