That reminds me of a good example. 5 years ago, I have got a surgery, with a lot of complication and step to do before the surgery (months at hospital, etc. — I have crohn’s disease for your information). I have been on and off hospital. I was at college (called CEGEP out there in Quebec-Canada and it is before University). I have not dropped off school because that is in my nature and still completed all my class (with pretty good result) event thought I have been away from school for more than half the time of the semester. But that is not a pretty achievement, as you may know that it takes very little effort to perform well at school in less time than allowed. However the year after, my “speed” like you say, was non-stopping and I was taking action like crazy. It is like I was feeling stronger after this, I was following the path withouth question (it was natural). I had like 9 classes at school, I was training twice a week with my badminton team and training a couple time off the team + the tournament. On top of that I was parting regularly 2-3 times a week. I was having way more interaction with girls and probably way more. I had no time to idle, and better than this, the action I was taking was getting me improving. People were wondering why after only 2-3 weeks after getting out of hospital, surgery, etc. I was up and running, began back sport, etc. Well that was the good decision.

However, I must admit that the side of your article saying we will fall back is also true. After that, I sure have done thing, but I have slowed down. Going to university. Took 5 classes, then 4 classes, etc. Degrading my speed. It is not a bad thing to take life easily, but I have probably wasted a lot of time. After I have got 2 jobs at the same time (still the case), however, I don’t feel that I am going at the full speed. I know I can go way faster. I always aim higher and will always be. Sometime you just feel stuck and that you hit a wall. I gotta really restructure my time. I often feel I don’t have time to stop and think. But probably I need to learn to say no or quit (that could be another subject of an article and that is probably inter-related to fear or nature of some people) some stuff so I can give myself the space to move and refactor myself.

If we all think about it, that is maybe why the movie “Fight Club” has been interesting a lot of people. The movie also talk about going down-deep, to the lowest level. It is also about taking action (Palahniuk also said he was writing the book more as an action story rather than a book that describe a color of a table for 10 pages, you can probably find a more accurate quote while seeking interview — I believe it was on a site called dvdtalk or something like that). I wonder how much parallel you can do about that movie and the philosophy of taking action, of going down deep and probably other concept. It happens often that people say that they have seen the movie a lot of time (10-20-50 times+) — myself included — that is not something you can say about all movies.

Now time to go take real actions at job… and in my life!

This makes sense in terms of career, but how about health and fitness? If what I’m doing now has me coasting along at 7, could a binge that brings me back down to 2 or 3 be a viable strategy? While I agree that if what you’re doing is not getting you results, then you should try something else, I would caution against using this strategy as an excuse to say ‘blow the diet/exercise regime - I need to feel really crappy before I can figure out the best plan’??? What are your thoughts on that one?

This is only relevant if we regard the scale as comparing ourselves to others. If we regard it as relative to our own capacity…again, how is operating at only 70% of personal capacity satisfactory? It’s like having a powerful 12 cylinder engine and being happy with only 8 of them firing.

I view your blog as part of my daily ‘Get Motivated’ activities and realized this is actually necessary for me to stay focused, I know because I see and feel a difference when I loose focus, and positive about the obstacles I face.

You being of a higher status or greater accomplishments, what do you read on a daily basis, if it is indeed on a daily basis, to fulfill your motivational reading.

Just want to thank you for the inspiration, and I hope you keep up the writing. You’re just getting better and better.

There is no such thing as pausing. If it’s not improving, it’s actually decaying.

However, so many people identify with and chase the path of mediocrity, of average. The path of “good enough”.