Do You Want to Peak?

I’ve been thinking about how celebrities reach a certain point that years later, people will call the height of their career. They’ll have all the fame, endorsements, assets, and fortune they ever wanted. It’s that moment where they’re on TV and the radio, people are asking for autographs and getting photos with them, the president wants to meet them.

Then, that person’s either not as famous or not famous at all.

I wondered what it felt like to have all of that momentum make such a hard stop. The only I can assume it feeling is like being pumped with adrenaline. Once you’ve had enough juice flowing, it’s like you could do anything anywhere, then just as you take the first step forward, you trip and fall. It’s gotta be surprising, or even embarrassing, but what about those who saw it coming?

When planning out your career, it depends on where you want to be that determines if you have a peak or not. Like, if you wanted to work from intern to CEO of your dream company, that’s a peak. If you want to continue to grow as an artist or intellectual, then there’s no peak. There’s just consistent growth.

I remember asking Episode 15’s Amogh Thacker what he saw as his peak career-wise and he told me that he didn’t want one. He just wanted to keep moving forward as a filmmaker and science guy. It wasn’t about the destination, but the journey. Of course, he speaks for himself, but there’s many others who feel the same way.

Me personally, as a writer, I don’t want a peak. I want to write and do my podcast; nothing more, nothing less. I want to keep going in this direction because it’s fulfilling. When you have a peak, it hurts less when you know you’re reaching it. Now, here’s an interesting question: Once you found you hit your peak, where do you want to go from there?