Every year, salmon swim upstream in salmon runs.
Salmon spend their juvenile life in fresh water and most of their adult life in salt water. Before they die, adult salmon leave the ocean and swim against the stream to reach fresh water gravel beds where they spawn.
Salmon runs don't happen without challenges, of course.
- Predators: Bears, eagles, otters, and many other meat-eating species find easy pickings from salmon runs.
- Physical barriers: Waterfalls, log jams, and dams impede salmon runs so that the journey upstream isn't just a walk in the park (or would that be a swim in the stream?).
- Exhaustion/disease: When salmon migrate upstream, they completely stop feeding. Their digestive systems shut down as they divert all their energy toward reproduction and swimming upstream.
Sound grueling? Absolutely.
But the biggest challenge isn't predators, physical barriers, or disease.
The biggest challenge is finding the courage to do what no one else is doing.
It's easy to go with the flow
Imagine you're a fish in the ocean, hanging out with your fish buddies doing fish things.
Suddenly, you see a lone fish dart past your group, heading for one of the estuaries that leads to the ocean. Strange. Why would he be heading there? Curious, you follow.
As you get to the estuary, the seawater turns into brackish water. The current gets stronger, pushing you back to the open sea. Yet the lone fish shows no sign of stopping.
Just as you're about to enter fresh water, your fish buddies catch up to you.
"What are you doing?" they ask.
"I don't know. I was just curious where that fish was headed."
They all stare at you blankly.
"What?" you ask. "I'm not allowed to be curious?"
"Why be curious? You've got everything you could want right here. That fish is definitely crazy. Come on, let's get back to the ocean."
And so your fish buddies start swimming away effortlessly, the current pushing them back to salt water.
You look back at the lone fish swimming upstream. He's almost out of sight.
You feel torn.
Part of you knows that it would be easier to just go back to the ocean with all your fish buddies, living the life that everyone else does.
But another part of you aches to swim upstream. Where that lone fish went. There's something exciting about it. Dangerous. Exhilarating.
Something amazing that you'll never be able to experience if you go with the flow.
You're reading this for a reason
It's not random that you're reading this.
You're reading this because there's a fire in your heart.
That fire is what tells you to head in the other direction when everyone else is doing the opposite. It's what tells you to do your own thing when everyone is following the crowd. It's what urges you to forge your own path instead of following the traditional one.
If that fire wasn't burning in your heart, you wouldn't still be reading this.
I can't tell you exactly when that fire started burning for you. It's different for everyone.
For me, it was sometime around high school, when I heard a quote that went something like:
"The A students work for the B students. The B students work for the C students. And the D students are the ones who change the world."
At the time, I was a straight-A student. But it did make me curious. Just like following the lone fish upstream.
So I started asking people around me what they thought about the quote.
And just like the fish buddies, they all dismissed it as "crazy."
Well, if the idea was crazy, then why did it resonate so much with me? Why did it make me feel like something was missing in my life?
You're not alone
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
—Jim Rohn
I went through all of high school, college, and the first couple of years out of college to start doing my own thing.
And it's unbelievably difficult to get started.
Not because of the possibility of failure—losing money, wasting time or energy, or looking like a fool in front of everyone else.
Because no one else is doing it.
It seems like everyone is following the traditional path: "go to school, get good grades, get a job, invest part of your paycheck, buy a big single family home, retire at 65."
But it's not everyone.
There are tons of people going against the grain. And it's not a matter of "you haven't met them yet." You have met them. But you haven't been spending time with them.
And that's really all you need to pass that activation threshold—enough time with people who are swimming against the current.
Humans are highly mimetic. We copy what the people closest to us do.
If your friends, parents, and family all followed the traditional path, it's almost impossible to not do the same.
Keyword: almost.
Though you aren't in control of human nature (you can't just "turn off" the mimetic switch), you are in control of your social circle.
You have access to the entire Library of Alexandria times a billion, sitting in your pocket.
Podcasts, YouTube, blogs, newsletters—the list goes on.
All of these forms of media are opportunities for you to "spend time" with people who aren't following the traditional path. Who aren't just going with the flow. People who are forging their own paths. People who, at one point, were no different than the curious fish in the ocean who followed the lone fish toward fresh water.
The real challenge isn't just swimming upstream.
The real challenge is swimming upstream alone when you could be doing it with others.