Progressive overload

In exercise science, there’s this thing called progressive overload. It’s the foundational practice of increasing the demand of your workouts (volume, duration, intensity, etc), slowly and steadily, to achieve growth. The process of getting stronger is the process of adapting: your body gets accustomed to the exercise by building the necessary systems to support the increased demand. To get continued growth, you need to continue increasing the demands. You need to keep raising the bar, over and over, until you’ve reached your fitness goals.

I realized something about myself yesterday: I essentially live in progressive overload. As delighted as I am to meet my goals, I am absolutely hooked on the feeling of meeting a raised bar.

My entire life, I have found ladders to climb. I discover something I enjoy, then lean in hard for however long it keeps my interest. I’ve delved neck-deep into so many pursuits: everything from learning Hungarian to professional cosplay to being a full-blown publishing academic. (I don’t identify with being a serial dabbler — I wouldn’t consider the depth of my engagement dabbling.) But the majority of the time, should I find myself reaching a ceiling, my interest wanes. If I can’t raise the bar, for whatever reason, a lot of the joy is lost for me.

For a long time, I asked myself if this behavior came from some deep unmet need. Do I feel unlovable if I’m not achieving? Am I trying to prove my worth through accomplishment? Is it possible that I don’t even like these activities, but instead crave the validation of “winning”?

The answer, I’ve determined, is “no.”

I won’t do something I dislike, and my failures aren’t tied to my self-worth. The truth is that I simply love the feeling of achievement, I crave novelty, and I’m stubborn enough to keep throwing myself out there.

I think, perhaps, it’s one of the reasons I enjoy being a creative. I’ve never gotten tired of painting, because there’s always a new subject to study, a new color to try, a new medium to explore. I’ve never gotten tired of writing, because there’s always, always a new story to tell.

I share this with you because — well, isn’t it always interesting when we learn things about ourselves? Isn’t the pursuit of joy always worth talking about?

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