Full out
It’s thrilling.
Nothing held in reserve. All in, leaving nothing behind.
It’s easy to get hooked on this.
And it’s easy to never experience it.
The internet has made each path more attractive.
It can put us into always-on mode, in a worldwide competition against infinite competitors and inputs in which the goal always seems within reach and also never arrives.
But it can also lull us into a stupor of clicks, likes, home deliveries and spectatorship.
Neither is ultimately productive or healthy.
The opportunity is in finding places that are finite enough for your full-court press to matter, and then, after you’ve shipped the work, to walk away. Not in defeat, but with the satisfaction that you produced something of value.
We didn’t evolve for a life of all-in or one of hibernation. It’s the transitions and the variations that contribute to our health, well-being and ability to contribute.