Let’s talk about potential.
There it is. See it shimmering high up atop a mountain or floating among the clouds. Everything you could be… if you only did the work and refused to let life derail you.
Now look down.
Back to reality. Back to where you are at this very moment.
Frustrating, isn’t it?
A giant chasm separates who we are to who we’d love to become.
At least it feels like a giant chasm to me. More often than not, when I look and compare the two, the void between them seems damn near insurmountable. On especially good days, the fissure is smaller…
But it’s still there.
If you read about any of the world’s truly exceptional people – corporate titans, military geniuses, creative dynamos – they seem united in their view that they still could have done more than they did. Regardless of how extraordinary their output.
I don’t claim to be an expert in anything. Yet as I read and write and do everything I can to learn from my mistakes, I’ve become convinced that the gap between potential and reality never really closes for good.
No matter how incredible you are, there’s always a tiny crack. A blip between your intention and what shows up on the page.
Sometimes it feels like I’m less of a writer and more of a translator. I have a very specific vision of how I want a scene to unfold. The atmosphere, the tension and dialog – working as one.
But when I put pen to paper, everything always seems a little off. Even if I’m flying high and having an incredible writing day. Sometimes these “translation errors” are so small they’re almost imperceptible, but they remain nonetheless.
A sentence doesn’t come quite off like I wanted it to. I hear a melody for the syntax, but it doesn’t quite convey on the page.
I probably don’t need to tell you that this can be maddening. As I plod along paragraph by paragraph, always a rounding error away from my truest vision, it’s easy to feel discouraged and wonder what all this hard work was for anyway.
This doesn’t just go for writing either. This gap between “potential” and “reality” has a way of seeping into every aspect of life.
I’m sure you can relate. Who couldn’t be a bit more productive at work? A better spouse? A bit more patient?
We have all these grand ideals. Sometimes we can’t help but fall short.
A few years back, I stumbled on a video from Ira Glass describing this very feeling. It’s short. I definitely recommend you check it out!
So even if you have good taste about what you want your life (or creative work) to look like, there’s the practical matter of navigating that space between the ideal and reality.
This can be a depressing idea if you let it get to you. Or, if you look at it another way, it can also be incredibly motivating.
How?
Every day you try your hardest to live consciously and intentionally. You work and rest and laugh. You create art. And at the end of every day, when you’re drifting off to sleep, you review your performance that day and realize there’s always a little more you could have done to hit your marks.
Seasons change. You grow older and hopefully wiser.
All the while, the hunt remains. The endless quest to write that perfect sentence. To live life to the fullest.
I suppose that’s what makes them ideals anyway.
We’ll probably never get to them… and that’s okay. Because there’s always the striving, the subtle sharpening of one’s craft as you become ever closer to becoming a master.
Does this sound familiar to you?
If so, which areas of your life are you wallowing in those gaps?
Shoot me an email. Say hello sometime. While I’ve gotten used to living in those gaps, I could always use some company.
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