Writing insights on all things business, life, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.
My mentor told me something years ago that fundamentally shifted how I view everything: "The size of your life is measured by the size of the game you choose to play." The story of Atlas has always fascinated me. Not because he was punished to hold up the heavens for eternity, but because of what his burden represents. Here was a being who quite literally chose to carry the weight of the world. The ultimate metaphor for playing the biggest possible game. Most people misunderstand Atlas. They see his burden as a curse. But I see it differently. The size of his game – holding up the entire world – gave his existence a magnitude that most immortals never achieved. His burden became his legacy. His struggle became his story. Been thinking about this deeply lately. In every conversation about business strategy, in every discussion about future plans, I see people actively choosing the weight they're willing to carry. It's like watching people deliberately pick up pebbles when there are mountains waiting to be moved. The most tragic part isn't failure. It's successful people playing games too small to matter. Watching brilliant minds optimize for local maximums, perfecting their performance in games that can never deliver the life they actually want. They're not failing at the game they're playing – they're succeeding at the wrong game entirely. Atlas didn't get to choose his burden, but we do. And what fascinates me is how this choice happens invisibly. Nobody consciously chooses to play small. Instead, they shrink their game through a thousand tiny decisions, each one rationalized with logic that sounds responsible. Each practical choice, each reasonable limitation, each "realistic" goal quietly conspiring to contain their potential within comfortable bounds. The truly great ones – the ones who reshape industries and define eras – understand something fundamental: The size of the game you're willing to play is actually a decision about what burden you're willing to carry. Like Atlas, they don't just choose bigger games; they choose games so big they have to grow into them. Games that require them to become different people to succeed. Your game size isn't just about the scale of your ambition. It's about the weight you're willing to bear. The magnitude of problems you're willing to own. The scope of impact you're willing to be responsible for. Small games don't just limit your success – they limit the weight you can carry, and therefore who you can become. This reality becomes painfully clear when you really study success at scale. Every person who's created lasting impact chose to carry weight that initially exceeded their strength. They didn't wait to become strong enough for bigger burdens – they used bigger burdens to force their evolution. Most people get this backwards. They think they need to grow first, then play bigger games. But transformation doesn't work that way. The weight you choose to carry creates the pressure that forces growth. Like Atlas's burden, the size of your game literally determines the size of the person you'll become. This is why my mentor's words keep hitting harder as time passes. He wasn't just talking about success metrics. He was talking about the fundamental mechanism of human potential. The game you choose – the weight you decide to carry – quite literally determines the life you can live. Look at the weight you're choosing to carry right now. Really look at it. Are you lifting pebbles when you could be moving mountains? Are you playing in puddles when you could be shifting oceans? The size of that game isn't just setting the limits of your success. It's setting the boundaries of your existence. Choose your burden. Choose your game. Choose your life. Because unlike Atlas, your burden is your choice. Make it heavy enough to matter. |
Writing insights on all things business, life, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.