A local maximum is a comfortable trap. You’re in a job that seems like it pays well, in the city you grew up in, on a path that looks like progress. But what if you’re only optimizing for what’s nearby instead of what’s possible? Most people don’t stop to ask.
This is certainly true from my lived experience growing up in a society where the default setting is to think safe & small, optimize for impressing your neighbor and relying on your parents / family to define the goalpost for success.
The job is fine, the routine predictable, and nothing is wrong, but nothing is truly great either. Comfort convinces you to refine where you are instead of questioning whether you’re even in the right place.
The only way past a local maximum is agency: the willingness to disrupt your own life.
Just because something is working doesn’t mean it’s the best you can do. Progress isn’t something that happens to you; it’s something you will into existence.
It’s leaving the stable job, moving to the city where things happen, betting on yourself before anyone else does.
The difference between those who plateau and those who break through isn’t luck or talent. It’s the ability to see past the next step and question the entire staircase.