Why we persevere in some activities and abandon others

Knowing the why ensures you’ll do the what

Photo by Lionel Gustave on Unsplash

You can touch water and be affected by it. You can’t hold on to it. It can make you wet for a while. If you drink it, it mutates into something else. You can drown in it. Too much of a good, even a necessary thing, can kill you.

Goals or desires that are both too big and too vague, with only ego for a foundation invites a mental or emotional tsunami. It can bring burnout, breakdown or both.

I’ve had moderate success with pursuits where I was clear about the “what” and was clueless about the “why”. The only thing I succeeded at long-term was maintaining a 30-lb weight loss for five years. The “what” was clear. I was fully committed to the “how”.

The critical element was that I could articulate several “whys”. The reason I regained most of that weight was the “why” lost its force. As a result, I lost commitment to the “what” and stopped doing the “how”.

What I know about myself and chess:

• I’m an enthusiast and a patzer, not an improver.
• I enjoy playing as much when I lose as when I win. I lose a LOT because I only play above my level.
• I enjoy studying and consuming content more than…