From Tim Johnson and Andrea Brajnovic’s The Very Delicious Strawberry, twenty illustrated Zen stories adapted for children:

A young Buddhist monk approached his teacher, and asked the Zen master: “If I meditate very diligently how long will it take for me to become enlightened?”

The master thought about this, then replied, “Ten Years.”

The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast, how long then?”

Replied the master, “Well, twenty years.”

“But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student.

“Thirty years” replied the Master.

“But I don’t understand, said the disappointed student “Each time I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?”

The Master replied, “When you have one eye on the goal, you can only have one eye on the path.