After Einstein graduated from university, he was unemployed several times a year. Later, he applied for a job as a technical examiner at the Bern Patent Office in Switzerland.
He walked to the Patent Office every morning, walked up to the fourth floor, and sat in his long and narrow office for eight hours. At that time, the patent office used a long-legged chair. This kind of chair made many people develop a habit of leaning back the seat, raising their legs on the table, and leisurely reviewing drawings.
Einstein was not used to this. He would rather work nervously and attentively at his desk. One day, he brought a saw from home and cut off a section of the chair leg. In this way, he could work according to his habit, with his whole body buried in the drawings on the table. Every day, after reviewing the drawings, he used the time saved to conduct physics research that fascinated him.
It was during this period of working at the Bern Patent Office that Einstein achieved fruitful scientific research results. He proposed the light quantum hypothesis and won the Nobel Prize for it. The theory of relativity was also born during this time. Here he ushered in a new era of physics.
Let us look through history again and we will find that there was a simple dining table and two simple chairs in Madame Curie's living room. Marie Curie's father once wanted to give them a set of luxurious furniture, but they refused for a simple reason: with sofas and soft chairs, people need to clean them, and it would be a pity to spend time in this regard. To prevent chatty guests from sitting down, they did not add a third chair. Marie Curie said: "In my life, I always pursue quiet work and a simple family life."
For Einstein, what he sawed off was not only a chair leg; There is a comfortable working state that enables him to fully concentrate on his work and not slack off because of comfort. For the Curies, two chairs gave them the motivation to work together in their careers. There are no extra chairs, which allows them to stay away from the intrusion of personnel and the promotion of fame, and finally climb to the pinnacle of science.
It turns out that success is the process of eliminating the complex and simplifying. Delete the comfort that easily makes people slack off, and just work hard in simplicity, and you will not be far from excellence.