You're Already at Your Peak

Kinetic Energy > Potential Energy

There's a common internal narrative in talented young people: your best is ahead of you. This is the most harmful excuse you can make to yourself.

The reality is that quickly after graduation, sometime in your twenties, potential stops mattering. Kinetic energy is far more important than potential energy. Life isn't an Ivy League admissions board: no one cares about your potential. What can you offer today?

The people that succeed are the ones who realize that champions behave like champions before they're champions. Michael Jordan didn't magically materialize into the GOAT after he won his first NBA title. He had championship caliber skills, work ethic, and expectations long before he became a champion.

If you justify your current position in life by telling yourself that your best is ahead of you, you are artificially lowering the bar for yourself in order to create a psychological refuge. Even if you end up improving in the future, you shouldn't use the future as a hedge for the present.

Hold yourself to higher standards. You are already at your best, and if your best isn't where you want to be, then get better today.

We rise to the level of our own expectations. The stories we tell ourselves, consciously or otherwise, are paramount. Act like you're at your peak, because whether you like it or not, you already are.