Montaigne isn't merely cautioning against scattered effort—he's suggesting that identity itself requires boundaries. A person without direction doesn't simply fail to achieve; they fail to *exist* as a coherent self, because we become ourselves through sustained commitment. Notice how the second part inverts our usual thinking: we assume ubiquity signals importance, yet he reveals it as a kind of disappearance. A consultant who takes every project, a friend who'll help with anything, a person constantly pivoting toward the next opportunity—they're all experiencing the peculiar loneliness of never being fully *anywhere*, which is why burnout often feels like an identity crisis rather than mere exhaustion.