I prefer to solve problems in one go if possible, but this will prove impossible on many occasions. Why? Because of lack of information, resources or self-discipline. On many occasions, I will discover too late that problems are more complex, serious, and wide-ranging than originally estimated.

Lao-Tzu must have come to the same conclusion when he wrote the Tao Te Ching because, in Chapter 48, he enunciated that principle of daily learning and practice of the non-action principle.

The more we know, the more precisely we can identify what to let go. It is an iterative process in which we learn as we go. I regard it as unrealistic, for most problems, to come up with the perfect solution at the beginning.

Unless you are very familiar with the problem at hand, you won’t grasp its full scope in a first approximation. Even in the unlikely case that you do, chances are that you will not be able to forecast the side effects and indirect costs of each solution. As a result, you may need to go through a few iterations until you get the problem solved.

Chapter 48 exhorts us to gain knowledge each day, and then use the knowledge to discard the unnecessary in our lives. The term “unnecessary” should be given a broad interpretation. It’s meant to encompass the redundant, the inconsistent, the broken and the ineffective elements in our lifestyle.

The motivational aspect

When discussing the need for iterations, the psychological and motivational elements are rarely mentioned, but they play a central role. They explain why, even if we exert large efforts, we will still need several iterations to solve our problems.

Everybody would like to possess sufficient self-discipline to turn his life around, but in practice, few people do. One thing is to know that we should improve our nutrition and do sports more often; another thing is to be able to modify our lifestyle overnight.

Let me give an example to illustrate this issue. Imagine that a man decides that, in order to remedy his health problems, he needs to quit eating industrially produced sugar. His decision is clear and his determination adamant, but what are his chances of success in one go?

I would rate those chances as negligible or extremely low. If he succeeds in giving up ice cream, chocolate and cookies, will he resist the temptation to eat a slice of cake at a birthday party or to drink soda on a hot summer day?

In real life, there are very few people capable of modifying their lifestyle overnight without ever relapsing. Human nature seldom goes from Saul to Paul in one go. The best intentions in the world may prove unable to withstand random temptations.

For someone who wants to stop eating industrially produced sugar, a more realistic scenario would be to stop purchasing all items containing sugar and make his home sugar-free in this respect.

A second step would be to avoid taking part in events where he would be confronted with strong temptations to breach his abstention from sugar. A third step would be to stop booking hotel rooms including breakfast because the breakfast offerings will inevitably include cookies, cakes or croissants.

Time will provide insights and feedback about what’s to be done next. Experience will tell us if we possess sufficient self- discipline to steer away from temptations, or if there are still situations where our determination is easily overpowered.

The learning curve

Lao-Tzu, Yang-Tzu, and Chuang-Tzu were realistic and fair in their assessment of what’s possible; human nature has stayed the same since Ancient China and we should not assume that it is easier to overcome temptations today than in past centuries.

The need for iterations in Taoist non-actions reflects the fact that, in most areas of life, we’ll need to go through a learning curve before becoming proficient. It would be delusional to assume that we can change our lifestyle overnight but that then we will need six months to acquire a fairly simple new skill.

Iteration enables the discovery of shortcuts and hacks to get what we want. A large portion of Chuang-Tzu’s stories recount the frustrations of Taoist newcomers going through a learning curve, failing, changing course, and eventually getting it right.

A traditional Taoist tale recounts how a novice woodcutter attempted to fell a large tree by hitting it fiercely with an axe, right and left, but barely making a dent on the tree’s bark. After an hour of frantic work, the novice woodcutter was exhausted and had to sit down on the ground.

“You are doing it wrong,” said an experienced woodcutter that had been watching the scene. “You have to stop hitting the tree randomly and, instead, you should proceed strategically.”

The neophyte did not like to be criticized, but he was clever enough to recognize his approach as ineffective; he was faced with the choice of persevering in his error, or listening to the voice of experience.

Luckily, the neophyte chose to learn the shortcut. “Will you show me what to do,” he replied.

“Gladly,” said the experienced woodcutter. He picked up the axe from the neophyte, walked to the tree, and with minimum effort, he made v-shaped incisions on opposite sides of the tree and, within a few minutes, the tree collapsed on one side.

That’s exactly the method recommended by Chapter 48 of the Tao Te Ching. Iteration in non-actions is a prerequisite for happiness because, in one way or another, we will have to go through the learning curve.

Let’s embrace the process gracefully, so that we can achieve our goals quickly and with minimum effort. There is no reward in life for stubbornness in the face of consistent failure. Unless we are willing to engage in learn-and-change iterations, we’ll just keep doing what doesn’t work.

If you are interested in putting effective insights into daily practice, I recommend my book titled “Rational living, rational working.”