Quantity over Quality

This week, I was discussing with a friend the old theory of "quality time" - that it is okay to spend very little time with your kids, if you make sure the time you DO spend with them is significant. He explained how his own observations had shown him that this theory of parenting was clearly wrong, and that he could always tell which kids were most likely to go bad by seeing how much time they spent with their parents on a regular basis.

In the same way, it is good to remember that while we all seek quality, the way to get there in virtually any enterprise is through quantity of time spent. I came across this article which does a good job of explaining why.

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

I'd strongly recommend reading the whole article - it is short. It reminds us that any enterprise - work, hobby, marriage, parenting - requires the investment of time. Skimp on it, and that enterprise will never grow beyond a certain point.