Compound Exponential Growth

The most impactful mathematical model I've learned is compound exponential growth.  

A small improvement that has positive effects on the future growth is one that compounds.  Every additional change makes the next one even better. 

Sustained over a long period of time it becomes a force multiplier largely exceeding expectations.  

But in the moment we rarely see its action because it's a second order effect.

Strive to make every action compound with positive outcomes, and each one will accumulate to make the next even better.  When the cumulative impact eventually reveals itself, you will be surprised at its size and reach.

The Journey and The Destination

The journey and the destination are forever entangled like inseparable threads.

A journey leads to a destination, and a destination begins a new journey.

And so on and so forth.

Irony of Achievement

The irony of achieving a goal is that once it is done and checked off, I now have less direction and guidance.  

If I am not comfortable in stillness, I need to move.  To keep moving, I need another carrot to chase.  

It might have been better to set the goal so high that it is unachievable, or perhaps set none at all.

Taking Aim

Aim at your goals carefully, because you will achieve them.  The universe realizes your inner wishes, sometimes directly, other times in roundabout ways.  So to be deliberate about the direction of our attention and pursuit is to align ourselves with the motion of the world.  If we set the right goals, the effort of our actions will lead us towards the best version of ourselves.  If we set the wrong goals, we waste our energy and work on outcomes that we didn't actually want at all.

Mistake Vectors

Mistake Vectors are the ways that opportunities to make mistakes present themselves.  The more vectors, the more different ways a player can struggle.  It's important that these are clear, so that when a player fails, they can see where to improve and have a clear plan of attack for their next attempt.

Curiosity is the Font of Life

Exploring and discovering new concepts, seeing the surprises that we have not seen before, seems to me the source of life's direction. Curiosity that drives the mind towards finding the gem hidden behind the endless veils of time. The need to be there and experience discovery, is so strong that we would move worlds for a little bit of information. 

A Month of Blogging

 August was my first attempt at one month of daily blogging. It's certainly the first time that I have consistently delivered on a resolution for a whole month!

What happened this time around?

I expanded the type posts that I make, allowing myself more freedom to create whatever I felt like for the day. I graduated from school, leaving behind my student self which was focused on learning. I set a new goal to share and connect with others. I updated my website!

The month-long blogging experience taught me a few things:

-> A new day, everyday. The wonderful thing about a daily activity is that you can wrap it up and get it done within the day. I try to focus on my new experiences and even though much of my day is spent at work, I'm able to find time for myself to read, play, and think.

-> A million distractions minus one. It's too easy to habitually look for news or excitement on social media. I still do it when the time permits, to my detriment. At the end of the day, its transient and immaterial unless you're valuably engaged in it. Having a small daily ritual helps me turn the phone off and focus on the task at hand.

-> A journey takes time. There's a ton of other projects on my mind that deserve attention, too. But it takes time and a lifetime's worth of work to navigate and figure out how to do it. What's worked best for me is looking ahead 20 years for some really long-term goals and building that path one step at a time.

Not every day is going to be a super amazing and productive one. But putting a bit of effort into blogging each day let me feel the nuances of the ups and downs, between which I hold a worthwhile balance and incessant self-examination.