If we eat, work, stretch and exercise proportionately, growth takes place. If we sit on the couch, drink beer and eat potato chips whilst watching TV and playing all sorts of fun and amusing games, growth occurs as well, just that I am not sure whether you would welcome such growth. We grow muscle, become stronger, healthier and happier when we do challenging work that brings us results and satisfaction. We grow lipids, harmful chemicals in our bloodstream and tend to become sick when we indulge ourselves in mindless amusements.

When our capabilities are overstretched, we become discouraged and frustrated. When the nature of our work is too easy for us, we become bored and tend to look for other excitements to engage ourselves. So, we ought to keep looking for states of flow where we can live and grow optimally. However, even as we do that, we need to bear in mind that life will throw us a situation or two where a quantum leap will be required of us. The situation will be such that there are no shortcuts, and no half measures will do. It’s all or nothing, as I mentioned in my previous post. If we have been consistently training ourselves to grow and excel in all that we do, then we will be more prepared to face that quantum leap and make the jump with a reasonable degree of confidence that we will, indeed, succeed. We may find ourselves in a situation where there is no alternative but to “bet the farm”, so to speak. We can do so with confidence when we realize that losing everything is just a phase of life, and that we can always start all over again. But we will only do that when we have trained ourselves to become used to growing and excelling in all aspects of our business, no matter what form our business may take. The willingness to die often decides who wins, as Al Pacino is often quoted with reference to the movie “Any Given Sunday.”

Do you stretch and grow on a daily basis? Comfortable with that? Too comfortable, you think? Don’t worry, a quantum leap might be just around the corner. Go for it!