The Salt Mines

There is this odd scenario you see quite often where people make decisions and build habits which make them great, but once they become great, they stopping doing the things that made them great, so they stop being great. They sit still during their abrupt fall from greatness and can’t understand why they are no longer great. They are incapable of seeing how their complacency has led to their demise. It is easy to believe that because you are great now, you can be great forever, “but that ain’t how it works.” If a world champion bodybuilder stops working out, his muscles will fade, and there will be a new world champion.

You become great by living in the salt mines. The salt mines are the arena for boring, Sisyphean work. Doing the simple things over and over again, day by day, night by night. The salt mines are where greatness is born. The second you poke your head out of the salt mines and realize how far you’ve gone, how much money you have in your bank account, and how “amazing” the world thinks you are, you are one step closer to losing everything you’ve worked for. The lights shine bright in the real world; it’s best to avoid them. If you hate the salt mines, they will hate you, but if you love the salt mines, they will love you back.

No matter what you accomplish, how far you go, or the places you see, you must never leave the salt mines.

The salt mines are boring, not fun, and something you’d want to give up on. Darwin spent 8 long years studying barnacles, which shaped his view on evolution more than any other animal. Do the boring things really well for a long period of time, far beyond when most normal people would give up, and great things tend to happen.

Never leave the salt mines.