James Barry

I find myself in one of two mindsets when I think about accomplishing anything.

There is the “I can do anything!” mindset. I’m in this one ~30% of the time.

Then there is “My possibilities are closing off” mindset. That’s the remaining ~70% of my time.

I spend so much time in the second mindset for two reasons:

1. Emotionally, it can sometimes be easier to be down on yourself.
2. Logically, the possibilities are actually closing off.

In Dave Grohl’s autobiography, he talks about pursuing being a “punk rocker” from the age of 13.

Nearly 40 years later, he is still doing the same thing (but now he’s the front man of the Foo Fighters).

Same thing with Tiger Woods, but to an even crazier degree.

He was putting golf balls across stage on live television at the age of 2.

Both examples here are fairly unrealistic. I literally picked two of the most successful people to ever exist in their chosen fields.

That aside though, the possibilities are ACTUALLY closing off.

Slowly but surely, every single day.

Want to become a doctor? Well unless you wanted to when you entered college, it’s going to be fairly hard. And expensive. And time-intensive.

How about a judge? Good luck. You need a law degree and at least 5 years of experience working in Law. If you started now, it would take you at least 9 years (you have to apply to Law school first).

So yes, logically both of those things are closed off to you. As well as going to the Olympics, becoming a movie star, or starting a famous YouTube channel.

But that’s an awful mindset to have.

Because with that mindset, you don’t think about all the things that can make you unique.

My favorite story when it comes to unique potential, is the story of Mike Dubin: Founder of Dollar Shave Club.

He graduated with a BA in History in 2001. Over the next decade he worked in a various marketing and writing positions at companies like NBC, Time, and Sports Illustrated.

During that time, he also took improv night classes.

Then, in 2011, he met a friend’s father who asked him if he could help sell 250,000 razor blades sitting in a warehouse.

The result was this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI

It was his unique set of experiences that allowed him to capitalize on an opportunity of a lifetime.

Now you might be thinking “I don’t want to be an entrepreneur and sell razors”.

This is just one example of many out there.

The point is that each of us has unique experiences.

So no, you probably won’t be able to become a Grandmaster at Chess. Or the next Billie Eilish. Or even the CEO of a company that sells razors.

What you can become, is something that’s completely unique to you.

So that’s why instead of thinking that “My possibilities are closing off”.

I remind myself that yes, the possibilities of what I can do in life are getting narrower. Every single day.

But new ones are continuing to open up, and if I continue to experiment and learn, one day I can do something completely unique to me.

So can you.

I find myself in one of two mindsets when I think about accomplishing anything.

There is the “I can do anything!” mindset. I’m in this one ~30% of the time.

Then there is “My possibilities are closing off” mindset. That’s the remaining ~70% of my time.

I spend so much time in the second mindset for two reasons:

1. Emotionally, it can sometimes be easier to be down on yourself.
2. Logically, the possibilities are actually closing off.

In Dave Grohl’s autobiography, he talks about pursuing being a “punk rocker” from the age of 13.

Nearly 40 years later, he is still doing the same thing (but now he’s the front man of the Foo Fighters).

Same thing with Tiger Woods, but to an even crazier degree.

He was putting golf balls across stage on live television at the age of 2.

Both examples here are fairly unrealistic. I literally picked two of the most successful people to ever exist in their chosen fields.

That aside though, the possibilities are ACTUALLY closing off.

Slowly but surely, every single day.

Want to become a doctor? Well unless you wanted to when you entered college, it’s going to be fairly hard. And expensive. And time-intensive.

How about a judge? Good luck. You need a law degree and at least 5 years of experience working in Law. If you started now, it would take you at least 9 years (you have to apply to Law school first).

So yes, logically both of those things are closed off to you. As well as going to the Olympics, becoming a movie star, or starting a famous YouTube channel.

But that’s an awful mindset to have.

Because with that mindset, you don’t think about all the things that can make you unique.

My favorite story when it comes to unique potential, is the story of Mike Dubin: Founder of Dollar Shave Club.

He graduated with a BA in History in 2001. Over the next decade he worked in a various marketing and writing positions at companies like NBC, Time, and Sports Illustrated.

During that time, he also took improv night classes.

Then, in 2011, he met a friend’s father who asked him if he could help sell 250,000 razor blades sitting in a warehouse.

The result was this famous video.

It was Mike’s unique set of experiences that allowed him to capitalize on an opportunity of a lifetime.

Now you might be thinking “I don’t want to be an entrepreneur and sell razors”.

This is just one example of many out there.

The point is that each of us has unique experiences.

So no, you probably won’t be able to become a Grandmaster at Chess. Or the next Billie Eilish. Or even the CEO of a company that sells razors.

What you can become, is something that’s completely unique to you.

So that’s why instead of thinking that “My possibilities are closing off”.

I remind myself that yes, the possibilities of what I can do in life are getting narrower. Every single day.

But new ones are continuing to open up, and if I continue to experiment and learn, one day I can do something completely unique to me.

So can you.

I launched this blog for one reason: To make a change.

Life had become stagnant.

Reactive, instead of proactive.

Four years out of college, I felt like I had made zero life progress. One failed career and one failed business.

I felt like a boat lost in the ocean, thrown around by waves. A captain who had lost control of their ship.

Publishing my writing was an attempt to regain that control.

At first, I just did it every week. It was something I had committed to.

Only after writing for a few months, I realized what I had done.

I had put a stake in the ground. Placed the first cornerstone of a new house I was building. A house that was uniquely mine, designed by my hand, to reflect who I was and more importantly, who I wanted to be.

A year ago, I felt like I was flailing around daily, trying to hold onto anything.

Today, I am still doing that. I’m still the same person, but now I have the foundations of a house that I can add to, each and every day.

I don’t know what the house will eventually look like. I don’t even know what it will look like a year from now, but I know that the only way to get there is to keep on building. Keep on writing, keep on learning, and keep on keeping on.

You may know the Aesop’s Fable called The Scorpion and The Frog.

If you haven’t, it’s a short read:

A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. The frog lets the scorpion climb on its back and begins to swim. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: “I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

The scorpion knew stinging the frog would cause him to drown, yet that knowledge didn’t stop him from killing them both.

Scorpions can’t control what is in their nature. Even when their life is at stake.

Humans are exactly the same and our history is littered with “intelligent” people making incredibly dumb decisions.

Here are two huge ones:

• Archie Karas turning a $10,000 loan into $40 million gambling, and immediately turning $40 million back into $0.
• Bill Clinton having an affair with Monica Lewinsky while he was President of the United States.

For both, their choices were made not by them, but by their nature.

You might think they were doomed, but had they simply planned around their basic instincts, they could have avoided becoming examples.

• Archie Karas could have entrusted a portion of his wealth to a financial advisor, outside his control.
• Bill Clinton could have had only male interns assigned to him instead of Monica. (Extreme… but effective)

In the moment though, they succumbed to their nature because they didn’t plan ahead.

Bill and Archie had no systems or processes in place to help them when they were most vulnerable. Their choices were made for them, just like the scorpion.

Unlike the scorpion though, we have the ability to plan ahead and we need to use it to our advantage wherever we can.

With the right systems and the right plan, you can stop yourself from making decisions others might view as inevitable.

The better we prepare, the shorter we will fall when we inevitably make mistakes.

As my one of my favorite authors said:

You Fall To The Level of Your Systems.

– James Clear

Better make the level of your systems as high as possible.

Potential – A word that contains what it stands for.

It’s the possibility to do… anything.

Inside of it is bottled up hopes, dreams, fears, and anxiety. Everything that comes with the unknown.

It’s a powerful feeling.

When we see children, all we see is pure potential.

The opportunity to achieve whatever they want. Be whoever they want to be.

An Astronaut. The President. A Dentist. A Writer. An Entrepreneur.

“Aim for the moon, you may hit a star” we tell them.

It’s so easy to see that potential in others. Yet, many of us don’t see that in ourselves.

As we get older, it becomes harder to remain endlessly optimistic.

Instead of focusing on our hopes and dreams, this is instead replaced by fear and anxiety.

When I graduated college, I felt like I had been thrust into the world and had no plan (which was 100% true).

My Dad saw the opposite. He saw somebody who with unlimited potential who could achieve whatever they set their mind to.

Throughout life, we all have that potential. If you’re 20, if you’re 30. Even if you’re 60, you are full of potential.

Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, started the chain when he was 65. Today it’s worth $10 billion.

We all have the ability to live many unique lives.

To have an impact on what we care about.

We all have potential.