We know antimatter as the hidden force that compliments and counteracts the very matter that makes…

We know antimatter as the hidden force that compliments and counteracts the very matter that makes us exist. It is there, a force so large it can’t be ignored, yet we can’t see or describe it, and so it is easy to forget.

When I see an Olympic athlete at the top of her sport, or an entrepreneur who sells his business for a billion dollars, or a bestselling writer who cranks out novel after novel, I often think not of the lack of comfort and the 10,000 hours it took them to get there, but of all the things they had to say “no” to in the process. Becoming successful demands an unfathomable amount of focus, saying no where the common man would say yes.

It can mean no to a flexible schedule, a no to the randomness and chance that keeps life interesting.

It can mean saying no to starting a family, or no to spending as much time with them as one should.

It can mean ignoring hobbies, side jobs, passions for which we also have a talent but which distract from our main objective.

It can mean saying no to friends, or to charity work, or to a healthy lifestyle, or to leaving the office before 2am.

For an athlete or a bodybuilder, it can mean no to a gluttonous lifestyle—a life devoid of the simple pleasures of good food and drink which all men enjoy.

Of course, saying no to everything doesn’t automatically guarantee success. Far from it. And it’s hardly an excuse for ignoring responsibilities. But the more I read and understand about successful people, the more I find that there is always some pivotal thing that successful people are willing to give up.

There are an infinite number of things available for us humans to do at any given time. So when I find myself indulging in a new hobby, even one I might be particularly good at, I think very hard about whether it compliments my primary goals, or whether it’s merely a distraction.

Curiously, there seems to be a subset of people for whom distractions breed success. Artists and musicians thrive in chaos, mixing emotions and taking cues from many experiences to create things expressive and beautiful. Steve Jobs, an entrepreneur but also an artist, famously described how computers might not have had beautiful typography had it not been for his auditing of calligraphy classes after dropping out.

As for me, I’ll stay foolish and hungry for as few passions as I can stand.