The Power is Rising.

There is this wonderful phrase of Nietzsche: “the only proof of strength is the excess of strength”. To me this is the difference between barely being able to do something and a speedrun. It’s the difference between barely being able to play level 1, versus completing it perfectly in 43 seconds. The difference in skill between those two is so vast that they are almost impossible to compare.

The “key” here is that this is about “skills”.

This is about things that you can acquire if you put your mind to it.

That. And some blood, sweat and tears.

The shift is between the two ends of where we all start with new projects, and where we aspire to end up. And this is exactly what this phrase means to me: it’s all about the point where it is tangible that things are falling into place. Where it just seems that everything is lined up perfectly and that “things are finally happening”.

This is where the “power is rising” gets real. This is where you just feel that all these small iterations over a very long time are finally paying off. This is where the “object” that you wanted in the beginning comes within reach. And this is also why the “power is rising” is more impactful than the actual win itself.

And I think this has to do with the fact that a win is usually just an “instant”, but the run towards the win is way longer, and where you can anticipate what will happen next. Where it gets interesting is that the “power is rising” is the perfect “heat to put the squeeze” on a next project.

The win will come around anyway, but it’s usually more important to anticipate your next move. The timing has to be right though, because otherwise it will just feel like you are a “machine” and there is no time to breathe. But if you start the next project when your current big project is at two-thirds, then when you do complete the project: then you can celebrate, knowing that you are well on your way to realizing your next win as well.

There is this old saying that “rise and fall” are a pair, or that a fat loss usually is more likely to happen after a big fat win. I like this phrase, because it makes me both cautious and it makes me want to taunt my fate. But it also makes me aware that there have to be guardians at the gate.

Initially I thought that “rise and fall” mostly has to do with the fact that your guard is down after a win. Competitors will see this as a weakness, and they will be ready to exploit it. Maybe it is, to an extent. Maybe it’s also what you look for, to an extent. All of that becomes essential when you start playing longer games, but recognizing the feeling of the “power is rising” is essential because you can then use this as a launching pad for what comes next.

And that’s the wonderful thing about “everything”: we always want to go bigger. The ceiling of what life can be will then be way higher than you ever imagined it before.