Stuck in first gear

Muse #224 - how would one break free to higher ratios

Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/T1L9Q5g7eIQ

You know the feeling. Being stuck in first gear. Or you probably don’t. But it feels to me sometimes that my whole life has been stuck in first gear, so far. Some might say that this is great because you are still moving forward. And it might be certainly better than not moving at all or moving backward.

It is difficult to steer a parked car, so get moving

— Henrietta Mears

But scale is about focus on leverage. The purpose of gears is to provide that leverage. One cannot always be in first gear. Though it has the ability to start moving, you need better leverage to move forward better than the first gear - however good your first gear might be. That is why, gears boxes have several ratios - whether manual or automatic. Recent new cars have 10 or even 14. The Formula 1 cars in the races I watch each week have even more.

Lower gears have definitely their uses, not only to propel forward but to slow things down when such slowness is necessary. But to get somewhere great, one needs to spend more time in these higher gears.

The trick to life is to find these right ratios. The right levers to providing the right leverage at the right times, so that you are not always stuck in first gear.