There’s a concept I want to think more about: gravy.
Turkey without gravy is good. But adding the gravy… that’s like the cherry on top. It takes it from good to great. It’s good without the gravy, but the gravy makes it even better.
An example of gravy from my life is starting a successful startup. It’s something I want to do, but it is gravy. Even if I never succeed at it, I still have a great life. Eg. by default my life is, say, a 7⁄10, but succeeding at a startup would be so awesome it’d make it a 10⁄10. But instead of this happening, my brain pulls a trick: it says “You need to succeed at this. When you do I’ll give allow you to feel normal, a 5⁄10 happiness. But along the way there, I’m going to make you feel 2⁄10.”
Maybe I’m more extreme than average here, but I think that this is a human thing, not a me-thing. It seems to be the norm when people pursue hard goals for them to feel this way. The rule, not the exception.
There’s a concept I want to think more about: gravy.
Turkey without gravy is good. But adding the gravy… that’s like the cherry on top. It takes it from good to great. It’s good without the gravy, but the gravy makes it even better.
An example of gravy from my life is starting a successful startup. It’s something I want to do, but it is gravy. Even if I never succeed at it, I still have a great life. Eg. by default my life is, say, a 7⁄10, but succeeding at a startup would be so awesome it’d make it a 10⁄10. But instead of this happening, my brain pulls a trick: it says “You need to succeed at this. When you do I’ll give allow you to feel normal, a 5⁄10 happiness. But along the way there, I’m going to make you feel 2⁄10.”
Maybe I’m more extreme than average here, but I think that this is a human thing, not a me-thing. It seems to be the norm when people pursue hard goals for them to feel this way. The rule, not the exception.