Carbs or Protein?
We all need to find something deeper and more powerful to lengthen our Delta.
When I hear about high-achieving people, there’s a voice in my head that wonders how many curveballs came their way. Sure, they work hard. It’s not that I question if they deserve it, but that I’m curious about the real Delta.
Delta, the math term, is the difference between two points. In this case, where someone started and where they are now. Did they start in poverty and still manage success, or were they raised in a wealthy home with well-connected parents? Did they get all the little shortcuts of privilege that shrink the distance between the starting line and the finish line?
Regardless of where you or I started, there are many ways to make progress.
I recently listened to Scott Belsky’s interview on the Tim Ferriss podcast where he shared a metaphor about the difference between resources and development. He compared them to carbohydrates and protein. Resources provide easy, quick energy while development offers muscle building that can be relied on again and again.
In business, it’s important to build resourcefulness into your culture. Often the hot new startup with generous funding gets so accustom to easy carbs that they never tap into other sources of energy to fuel their growth.
In life, this metaphor applies to all of us every day. When surrounded by resources it’s easy to burn up your supply without developing the muscle of resourcefulness. On the other hand, if you’ve been resource starved for most of your life, you’re more likely to have developed valuable muscle.
Maybe it’s what Angela Duckworth calls grit or Eric Greitens calls resilience. It’s the stuff you tap into after the easy first mile. We all need to find something deeper and more powerful to lengthen our Delta regardless of where we started. No one gets to choose what they are born into, but we can choose how to define and navigate our success.
Thankfully, both resources and resourcefulness are powerful assets. Every person on earth has opportunities for development even if they are resource-poor. But it’s going to take a lot of hard work and time to fully realize it.
So, the next time you find a similar voice in your head wondering about someone else’s success, focus instead on your own Delta. Whether it’s been fueled by easy carbs or muscle-building protein, it’s never too late to develop yourself for the miles ahead.
