Rather than write about the couple of minor things I got done today, I want to get down my thoughts on what I’m going to start calling “critical mass”.
A lot of conventional self-help wisdom spouts the idea that “life is the journey” – that you’ll never get to the “end” and completely accomplish something, so you should just enjoy the journey. I think this is motivational, and sets outcome independence, but it’s just not true.
In almost every area of your life, you can hit a “critical mass” where for all intensive purposes that area of your life *is* handled. A common example is money – last I calculated, if you have $15 million sitting in the bank earning interest and are over 25, then you can pretty much never work again and still live fairly comfortably.
It also applies to other things like mechanical and interpersonal skills. If you play, say, a competitive sport to a certain level and maintain that level on occasion, you will be better than 99% of people you ever play against. Only people who play professionally will outplay you. I believe the same thing is true for other skills like public speaking or networking too – say you’re a networking warrior… at some point, your social network will expand start to self-perpetuate. People will be referring other people to you – you literally CANNOT stop the growth.
The point described in all these situations is what I’m calling “critical mass”. It is the real-world equivalent of a lofty goal or outcome that we have in our minds, and it exists and is very much real.
Isn’t knowing that it is possible to get there that much more motivating?
- Aaron P
