The “Old You” Cannot Conquer Your Current Challenges

Adrian S. Potter
3 min readJun 4, 2022

Why leveling up is critical.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

The Secondhand Inspiration Project begins with a motivational quote and ventures wherever the creative path meanders.

“Every next level of your life will demand a different you.” — Leonardo DiCaprio

Life is a multiple-level video game. In each phase, we alter our strategies, assume different roles, recruit new supporting players and resources, and tackle new goals.

Transitioning to a different level often triggers ambiguity and confusion. Like playing a new video game for the first time, we may not know which direction to head, which pitfalls to avoid, or our objective.

And that’s okay, even if it doesn’t feel “okay” at the moment.

To get what we want and “graduate” from a level, we must work hard, struggle and strive. Things are always trickier than they were previously, and even if we face familiar foes or scenarios, they too require an evolution in our mindsets.

The basic tactics used to win Level 1 of a video game will not help us defeat the final boss on Level 10. To be honest, they will likely cause our demise. Game over.

Each level should be a progression from the last.

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Adrian S. Potter

Antisocial Extrovert · Writer and Poet, Engineer, Consultant, Public Speaker · Writing about self-improvement, gratitude, and creativity · www.adrianspotter.com