I found wisdom in an interview between Bill Simmons (the Sports Guy) and Malcolm Gladwell (author of "Blink"):

GLADWELL:
The (short) answer is that it's really risky to work hard, because then if you fail you can no longer say that you failed because you didn't work hard. It's a form of self-protection. I swear that's why Mickelson has that almost absurdly calm demeanor. If he loses, he can always say: Well, I could have practiced more, and maybe next year I will and I'll win then. When Tiger loses, what does he tell himself? He worked as hard as he possibly could. He prepared like no one else in the game and he still lost. That has to be devastating, and dealing with that kind of conclusion takes a very special and rare kind of resilience. Most of the psychological research on this is focused on why some kids don't study for tests -- which is a much more serious version of the same problem. If you get drunk the night before an exam instead of studying and you fail, then the problem is that you got drunk. If you do study and you fail, the problem is that you're stupid -- and stupid, for a student, is a death sentence. The point is that it is far more psychologically dangerous and difficult to prepare for a task than not to prepare. People think that Tiger is tougher than Mickelson because he works harder. Wrong: Tiger is tougher than Mickelson and because of that he works harder.

Word.

. . .

Really digging Yellowcard's latest effort. A snippet from "Lights and Sounds," their first single:

Stop, turn, take a look around,
at all of the lights and sounds,
let them bring you in.
Slow burn, let it all fade out
and pull the curtain down,
wonder where you've been.

Make it new but stay in the lines,
just let go, but keep it inside,
smile big for everyone,
even when you know what they've done.
They gave you the end but not where to start,
not how to build, how to tear it apart,
So tell it all and fill up the air,
but make it loud 'cause nobody's there.

A good song about the expectations heaped upon our generation, and how it leads us to be distracted from the present. Dig.