I’m now well into the final crunch of my first semester of grad school. This means of course that I have switched over into my spartan/aesthetic finals lifestyle, meaning that I’m sleeping the minimal amount of time humanly possible, working literally around-the-clock, eating terrible food, and going days without sunlight or contact with the outside world. This isn’t really that healthy, but that’s not my main concern at the moment. What struck me tonight on my way to the library after class was how much I’m actually able to produce when I push myself to the limit like this. Between today and three weeks from today I will have written at least 60 pages (seriously) on top of going to class and tutoring students. This is a completely daunting amount of work, and I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t worried about it, at the same time I’m absolutely confident that I’ll get it all done.

At the same time I can’t help but wonder, what could I accomplish if I devoted this much time and energy and discipline to something besides school? What if I devoted three weeks to something more artistic, let’s say creative writing? How much could I accomplish? My gut feeling is, quite a bit. At the same time I’d should acknowledge that the only reason I’m able to sustain this level of productivity with the three papers I’ll be working on is because I’ve been in class all semester, and this is really more of the culmination of a long process than simply a productivity binge. But even still, what if I replicated this process, let’s say I did research casually for three months and then sat down and then for three weeks did very little other than try to write a 60 page short story based on what I’ve found.

I don’t know the answer to this, because to be honest I’ve never worked as hard or as long on anything other than academics, and for me that specifically means essay writing when you get down to it.

Another side of all this of course is that, really I’ve been writing papers for at least 10 years now, and whatever semester I’m currently in is really more of the culmination of that whole education process than each semester on its own. But what if I had devoted the last 10 years of my life to learning music, or drawing or acting, or anything? Although I definitely think natural talent plays a certain role in all of this I think total man-hours might matter more in the end.

It’s not that I’m dissatisfied with all the time I’ve spent to this particular craft, it’s just it’s really all I’ve ever known, and I’m curious as to what I could accomplish if I set my abilities toward something else. hopefully I’ll have the chance to try this out sometime in the near future.

Beyond that however, I think I also simply have an interest in the limits of human achievement when pushed the limit. I used creative writing as an example because it’s something familiar to me, but there are many circumstances I would be really interested in trying out, for example creating an album, building something, medical school, or athletic training. but also love to try something that is more of a collaborative endeavor, not the solo pursuits I’m used to. It really all just boils down to the devoted, uninterrupted pursuit of a singular goal that interests me.

I really think that one of man’s greatest gifts is the ability to get better, the ability to improve himself and see those results in more or less real-time.

If you do anything for long enough, you’ll build a muscle somewhere.