Have you ever heard of “activation energy”? It’s a chemistry thing. The dictionary tells us that it’s “the minimum quantity of energy that the reacting species must possess in order to undergo a specified reaction.” Mundane examples: Water only boils once it reaches its activation energy point of 212 degrees. 100 degrees certainly won’t do it. 200 degrees won’t do it. Not even 210 degrees will do it. Simmering but not boiling. Want to boil? Gotta get the heat all the way up to 212. Then you’ll undergo the “specified reaction” and boil. Same rules apply with fire. 451 degrees is the magic ticket there. Rub two sticks together and get to 400 degrees? Nothing. 449? Nothing. 450? Nope. Nothing. 451? BAM! Let there be light. Activation energy. All of which is to arrive at this question: Are you simmering or are you boiling? Because if you’re not willing to flip the switch and go ALL IN, you won’t hit the necessary activation energy required to undergo the specified reaction of stepping into your truly heroic potential. Btw. This isn’t a new idea. (No great wisdom is.) Socrates used to tell his students they needed to approach life with the same intensity of a man whose face is underwater struggles for oxygen. Eastern mystics have used the same basic metaphor—telling us that we need to approach this whole process of enlightened living like a man whose hair is on fire approaches a pond. Let’s do that.
