Or as Hamming says in his famous essay: He who works with a closed door is more productive today and tomorrow, but over time works on just slightly the wrong things to make an impact. But those with an open door are full of flitting and scattering and keep getting distracted, yet over time stay aligned with the field and are much more likely to do important work
The lecture is part of a series of lectures by Richard W. Hamming and is collected into a book The art of doing science and engineering : learning to learn
It's a matter of balance. Too much "open door" mentality, and you'll never achieve anything that distinguishes you from the rest. You won't create a new trend if you're always chasing the latest trends.
But for me finding that holy balance is in itself is tiring. some times the contents are no engaging and so it feels easier to skip through the slacking and get some work done. But in other times it is hard. The balance of this mechanism seems so dynamics.
