Paarth Madan

A medium to iterate on my own thoughts.

Potential

Posted at — Jan 24, 2021

This is a reminder to myself. Here are all of the others.


Everyone has potential. Realizing your potential is where meaning lies.

Potential.

You have it.
I have it.
We all have it.

But, having potential isn’t the full story. Instead, realizing your potential is where meaning lies.

Potential is something that belongs to you. It’s an internal resource that requires effort to extract.

The more you fight with yourself, the more you are rewarded.

You need to pull it out of yourself and overcome your own inertia. That may be through creating positive habits, discipline, focus, self-reflection, meditation, or overcoming adversity.


I have always felt like I’ve underperformed. That there’s more I can give, and more that I can squeeze out of myself.

While I don’t think I’m performing nearly as well as I can, I noticed a significant difference when I adopted a new mindset.

I prioritize things that are in my control – and only those things.

The interesting thing about this battle is that it’s me against myself.

There are no excuses. There’s no one I can blame.

I play games where I’m the only one who can be held accountable.


Fitness.

If I don’t look the way I want to, it’s because I haven’t been eating the way I need to. It’s because I didn’t train with intensity I need to.

There’s no scape goat, which is daunting. I had the tendency to assign failure to the external, but now I lean into failure.

I am not scared to fail.

Learning.

There’s no one I can point to, and say, “it’s because of you that I haven’t learned how Bitcoin works”.

It’s on me.

Relationships.

It’s a solo game with multiplayer interaction. If something isn’t working, default to taking ownership of the entire thing. There is never a time where I can’t improve, first.

I’ve defined the games I want to play in my purpose series.


Before, I was scared of these aspects of life.

Why? Well, if I fail, I have no one to turn to.

I didn’t want to take ownership of my life. Now, I do.


There are second order effects of prioritizing solo games.

You reduce much of the negative overhead we experience in other aspects of life.

There’s no competition. I can’t compare myself with anyone, as my struggles and challenges are unique. As I prioritize being better than I was a year ago, my only frame of reference is myself a year ago.


I don’t like process. But, it’s an important step to clarify things for myself.

  1. Take ownership of all that you can.
  2. Digest that if you fail, it’s on you, and no one else. Digest that this is okay.
  3. Sit with yourself and clarify what you truly want (hint: it’s probably not fame, status, or money).
  4. Lean into hardship. The more hardship, the more growth.

Do things you’ve never done before.
Stop categorizing yourself.

comments powered by Disqus