1.The barbell.
When you’re lifting weights to help she’d those surplus pounds, consider this. Okay, I don’t know much about weightlifting, and I’m not wasting my time checking my facts, but any normal human can lift a barbell that is heavier than the sum of the dumbbells they can lift. The secret is in the balance, and the key to that is the bar. Almost all of the weight is at either end of bar, but without the bar, the weights are unmanageable.

In this context, your current and envisaged local optima are the weights at either end of the bar. The key to lifting the bar is not to worry about the weights at either end but to consider the balance around the pivot…you. So do not consider the details of moving away from where you are, nor how you arrive at where you want to be; consider the position, balance and strength of the person doing the lifting.

In the same way, a man planning a journey does not consider which way his car is facing, whether the tank is full, and where he left the keys. Nor does he check he has the map of his destination and their phone number. No, he first considers which route he will take, whether he will fly or drive, perhaps what time of day he will leave or arrive, and what stops along the way.

Very insightful and very clever… you make a good point as always. I to liked to cheat and yes that is a good metaphor for precisely what I needed to hear!

Thanks Alan!

I assume you’re in a place near to a “local optimum”; you don’t believe that tweaks here and there can lead to a satisfactory situation. When you’re hemmed in on all sides by oppressive peaks of difficulty, then is the time to envision yourself on the other side of the watershed.

So you’re in the valley of your preferred “local optimimum”. Incremental changes can lead you forward, now. But you remember this comment and the commitment you made to yourself to reflect upon your journey. Looking back, what did you have to do to cross the watershed? More importantly, perhaps, what did you worry about unnecessarily?

Take care, Dr Luke!

I agree. I definitely want to avoid failure when I can… do long as it doesn’t inhibit my growth!

Luke