• Idle hands are the Devil's Workshop.
  • We are at our best, when things are at their worst.
  • Progress is more often the result of failure, than success.
  • You never really know how far you can go... until you fall.

All these ideas have a common theme... the hardest steel is forged by the hottest furnace. As a species and as individuals, we are pushed to greatness through adversity. The more difficult our circumstance, the greater the motivation to change.

So what happens when you're satisfied? Absent the "cattle-prod" of difficulty to spur us to change... we don't. Should it then be a surprise to any of us that the opposite condition is true as well? That mediocrity is fueled by success. When things are going well... don't rock the boat yes? Why would you?

We recognize and even celebrate those individuals who overcame great adversity. But how many of them actually sought out this adversity intentionally? Precious few...

Hard times create strong men, Strong men create good times, Good times create weak men, Weak men create hard times.

It is this inescapable condition which defines our plight today. Makes cookie dough of us all.

It is the difference between competence and comfort, balanced against each other, which drives the process. We are truly victims of our own success. The diminishing returns of past triumphs, are the failures of tomorrow. Our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness... where fear & fruition meet.

Our prosperity is a beacon; a harbinger of things to come. Having overcome many of the difficulties of the human experience, we are poised to face our age old nemesis. This pendulum between failure & success. A never ending battle between the forge of adversity & the tyranny of leisure.

What is the greatest source of human suffering?

Our happiness.