As humans we live in a constant state of aspiration spiral, wherein we desire X, which we do not have right now, pursue it and if we attain it or not, seek new X’s and begin a new round of pursuit - a never ending spiral, a game which the old, who can hardly exert themselves physically still play.

Here to there

Most of us have a sense of apprehension when we desire X which seems difficult to achieve (relative to the things we have achieved) and is a distant unknowable time in the future to become our present. But fear is hardly helpful in such situations - it is a slippery slope to paralysis or inaction.

How then do we get from here, where we do not have X - that which we desire, to there, where X is a present artifact in our lives? In other words, how to we close the gap from here to there.

Gap

The gap from here to there for any worthwhile endeavor is threefold, fourfold to be more circumspect.
  1. Knowledge
  2. Labor
  3. Luck
  4. Time

Knowledge

You don’t know what you don’t know.

David Deutsch’s “The beginning of infinity” is a good primer on the power of knowledge to get humanity from a seeming edge of destruction to a seeming edge of over-abundance. Several scientists declared in the 60’s that humanity, based on our rising population, was doomed, that there will not be enough food for everyone by the 90’s, here we are today, with so much food, that obesity is now bordering on being an epidemic in many nations.

The factor not accounted for by the doomsayers of old, is the same factor not accounted for by the doomsayers of today - knowledge.

Knowledge is not fixed, but doomsayers make future predictions based on the premise that it is. We can know more tomorrow than we do today. We can learn new things tomorrow than we have learnt in the past and that makes a world of difference. The human ability to derive and learn new knowledge is the major factor that makes heaps of yesterday’s seeming impossibilities become possible today and the same holds true on a personal/individual level.

Labor

Attaining new knowledge is good, but more importantly, it has to be factored into your actions going forward for the attainment of that knowledge to be of any use.

Labor is not negotiable, without it we could never even go through the process of learning new knowledge – he that does not work, must not eat.

Luck

“It is better to be lucky than good”.

The above statement encapsulates the power of luck, it can render labor useless, it can make mockery out of expertise.

This is not a recommendation to wait on luck to get you from here to there, I would rather not include it as a factor in the first place, but it is way too powerful to be excluded based on personal preference.

Luck is a factor that no one has direct influence over - why you should not rely on it, but can influence everything.

Time

Time is a non-factor factor, in that it is a function of the other factors. As it turns out, time can be compressed and expanded based on the other three factors listed, hence, it is not an independent variable in getting from here to there.

That which takes James 5 years to attain, may be a 1 month journey for John due to either John knowing more, working harder or just luck shinning a bright white light on John.

So that though time is a factor, it is a factor of the other factors mentioned – a non-factor factor.

What then?

Two factors clearly stand out as actionable by us - knowledge and labor. Turn these two into habits, let studying, acquiring new knowledge be a norm and let labor be second nature, if these two are “on your side”, the other factors will, likely - luck speaking, come around to your team and help you close the gap from where you are to where you desire to be, hopefully in reasonable time.

Thank you for reading.