A little Physics lesson to get from where you are to where you want to be
Let’s imagine two scenarios
- Which one is easier: for a surfer to learn to create a wave, or to learn to ride it when it rolls?
- In the famous story of David and Goliath, David being significantly smaller in figure managed to defeat Goliath using a slingshot. A small tool that uses “gravitational assist” (what a fancy term, I just found out about it too) to create momentum to propel an object far away. In David’s case, a stone hit Goliath right on his head and he fell. Pretty impressive for something little like a momentum huh?
If you get confused over the above scenarios, don't worry. I will be explaining this shortly.
In pursuit of many goals in my life, and proudly achieving quite a number of them, I have learnt to see goal-reaching as a game of knowing how to differentiate between waves and momentum.
We have been told since the olden days to dream and to dream big.
But often dreaming big leaves us paralysed.
“The gap between where I am to where I want to be, aka my goal, is too far. There is no way, other than luck, I can get there.”
This is a very common thought and I would say, a pretty normal reaction to have. Does this mean we ought to be “realistic” and dream… smaller dreams? Though it is normal, we often forget to follow up on this fear of achieving something that is super far away from our reality. In my years working on education initiatives, such as through Abroadening, I see too many people leaving dreams as mere dreams. If there is anything I hate the most in life, it is witnessing people do this while knowing the barrier that lies between them and realising their dreams is a small key to the room of knowledge — people in the field call this information asymmetry. So here I am with my attempt to offer that key.
Before I get further into this, I have to say that I personally feel sad that many of us use “that is just the reality” as something to succumb to, something that warrants the feeling of hopelessness and thus inaction.
I do believe that the “reality” we are all referring to and often giving in to, is a status quo. Status quo by itself means an “existing condition”, something normal, something expected, something that probably has been around for a while we accept it as the “should be”.
I beg to differ. I do not want to go too meta about this but what makes an “existing” condition exist is the fact that we all contribute to making it exist. Because we believe that is what the reality is and should be. What if we start to imagine a new reality? I’d like to think the status quo would shift. It is never a start-to-end kind of journey, from one bad reality to another good reality. Good and bad lie in a spectrum anyway. But it is an iteration of what a better reality could be and daring to make that happen, little by little.
Anywho, the above paragraph is me side-tracking into the topic of “reality” that I also have something to say about which coincides with a part of this entry. This is not about questioning what is a reality. But rather a hopeful call that maybe we do not need to succumb to “reality” the way big, daunting dreams often immobilise most of us.
Going back to my first scenario, I think getting from one state to another, especially ambitious ones, may sometimes need big intervention. Luck to a lot of us, but I’d like to see it more like a wave. Big waves that can transport you from one end to the other end of the ocean. We often think that we need to create these waves by ourselves. We think success is a matter of hard work, and hard work only. But we are not machines. And it is rarely the case that hard work will satisfy your success equation, in fact, it often disappoints you. We need to know where we can put hard works in, and where not to even attempt. That is your waves.
Waves are like… economic cycles, AI trends, Covid-19, or pure luck, these are big events, big things in life that are beyond our control. They are simply too big, and too systematic for us to force changes to or to create. Let’s face it, you yourself cannot create massive change. But it does not mean we should stop there and “get back to reality”.
There are variables still within your constraints, that you can create what I like to see as “momentum”. That is my second scenario depicted in the David and Goliath story. David cannot possibly turn into someone as big as Goliath (your wave), but he happens to have a pretty good aim with his slingshot (using your momentum). He created momentum easily enough with a stick, an elastic support, and a stone — and won the duel.
Remember the things that are within our constraints do not have to be rocket science. It does not need a big, massive change — but simple things you can do by yourself. I am talking about upskilling yourself where you can through reading books or listening to podcasts, jotting down notes, being curious and asking questions, chatting with one person in the field you want to be good at and asking to get introduced to another person. You can initiate something small and work towards snowballing it, contribute something you can with the skills you have and so on. Remember, start small, keep it small as long as you need to so you do not get toppled over while trying, and think of yourself as a little pendulum. The wise people have a quote for this: “do what you can with what you have where you are”.
When you create momentum for yourself, this is like a surfer practising with smaller waves — or a surfer rowing themself far enough into the ocean so when the wave comes they can ride it. Meaning: as much as we are waiting for the waves, it does not mean a passive kind of waiting. We need to do something because who knows when the big wave is gonna come? But whenever it does, you want to be well-positioned to ride it.
If I can give another illustration, go watch a relay competition. The next person never stands still and waits for the baton to be passed over and then starts running. They run alongside and they both run when the baton is being passed over.
Do not just wait.
A little case study to illustrate the above, from yours truly’s experience.
For those who did not know my educational background, I did an MPhil in Development Studies a couple of years back and I now work in the financial industry. During my time at university, sustainable development was an interest that I even went to write a paper on but never finished or published because honestly I did not have the capacity. I applied for a PhD in Sustainable Development after my MPhil, wanting to focus on Indonesia’s journey to abating and decommissioning coal plants, but I failed to get any funding so I closed that chapter.
The wave was not looking good at the time.
Fast forward to my current career working in the financial sector. The closest to sustainable development I can get now within the financial industry is through the lens of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance).
Utilising ESG within the financial context takes quite a different spin compared to Development. Something I never quite learnt before. So I watched all training videos related to ESG that my company provided, I earned certification through a self-paced course, and made sure I was well-read on the topic from a financial standpoint. I spoke to my mentor at work about my interest who made me an introduction to the ESG advocate in the company that I had often heard of but never got the “opening” to meet before. At the same time, I kept an eye on ESG development internally and when I saw someone else in a different team was working on a sustainable fixed-income project, I proposed a collaboration for the ESG Taskforce in my team that I was initially denied entry to because they were oversubscribed. I gained my entry after that as a member of the taskforce.
I was creating momentum for myself.
A couple weeks later, my company launched a specialisation in ESG for the very first time and they are recruiting for an APAC lead. I applied. And I got it.
This is the wave I was riding.
This is not unique to this ESG story. I have done the same for my master’s application, for my side works with reviewing university admission essays, building an education non-profit, and frankly many things in my life.
(I think it is pretty much an almost-solid framework for myself)
What I am getting at is, that relying on hard work only is like laying out stairs to get from where you are to where you want to be. Maybe you will still arrive at your destination but it is not the most efficient use of time and effort. You need to be watchful and observant enough to spot waves and ride it when it comes. Waves propel you far. But we cannot wait on waves forever. So what do you do when the ocean seems unbudging and calm and no waves are rolling?
You build your momentum so when the waves form you can come along and ride it.
TL-DR:
- Waves > learn to ride it
- Momentum > learn to create it
And the wisest of all know the difference and spot the right waves to ride on.
