Infinite Energy
I can't stop thinking about this throwaway phrase.
During her interview on Dialectic, Brie Wolfson used the phrase infinite energy.
It was a throwaway line.
Specifically she said, “My infinite energy is to help people say more awesome stuff.”
She used that term—infinite energy—only once in 2 hours and 26 minutes.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since I heard her say it. I have so many questions.
What does it tell us if we can find our infinite energy and what does it tell us if we can’t?
If we find it, to what extent should we pursue it?
Of course we can’t spend infinite energy on something, because we don’t have that, so what does it even mean to have infinite energy?
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While I reflect on an example of something that comes to mind when I think of my own infinite energy, I would love for you to think of your own example too, dear reader.
Steve is one of my best friends. He and I have known each other for over 20 years.
One of the things we are known for is the conversations that begin at our goodbyes.
I can’t think of the amount of times we’ve come to the end of a night together and we’re standing (almost always standing) by a car (usually mine) ready to say goodbye, then one of us says something.
That something is often totally random.
A personal favourite example was a question that was something like this:
If something crazy happened and we were all of a sudden the only two people left in this city, how would we find each other? With no phones or internet obviously.
That exact conversation lasted for well over two hours. It was insanely detailed for an incredibly fictional situation.
One of my infinite energies is for conversations like that, with Steve.
**
I’d like to use this example to share some characteristics of things we might have infinite energy for.
If you’ve found your thing, I’d love to know how these characteristics line up, and if you haven’t, perhaps these characteristics will help.
I’ve thought of three characteristics and I’ll frame them as questions.
Is this something you want to do? - A good clue that you’ve found your infinite energy is it’s the thing you want to do, after having done all the things you need to do. Sometimes it’s the thing that makes all the things you need to do so frustrating because you want to do this other thing so badly.
Is this something that feels endless (in a good way)? - By endless, what I mean is that your only real constraint is time. In my example with Steve, the topics (or sometimes singular topic) we discuss could keep going and going, but at some point we come to our senses and realize that we should probably go home.
Is this something that has the potential to surprise and delight you? - Those particular feelings matter a lot. They point to the discovery of something new. Imagine I created a retail store full of things you’ve never seen that have been curated just to suit you. The feeling I’m getting at is what it would be like to walk through that store.
So, what’s your infinite energy?
This beautifully explains the idea of value alignment with a work culture. And those values being aligned through the mission toward the vision. Everyday doing it is worthwhile even if you never get all the way there.