I often carry a Rubik’s cube around with me. It’s something I like to use to entertain myself and keep my hands busy. However, for me, the best thing about having it is giving it to others and watching them attempt to complete the puzzle. Over the years of me doing this, I have noticed a pattern. Normally, with a bit of guidance, people can complete one side. Their face brightens with pride and joy, as it should, but rarely do they reach the next milestone.

The issue with the Rubik’s cube is that you cannot complete it by going systematically through it face by face. The steps needed to progress temporarily distort that first completed face, and for many people it seems like they are regressing. The initial content they feel turns into complacency. They would rather show off the one face that they managed to complete than be guided through the next five or six steps, allowing for them to solve the puzzle.

I often find myself in situations similar to that of a novice attempting a Rubik’s cube. I get overly satisfied with a certain achievement and would rather bask in the glory of my success than tackle more challenges that could lead to greater things.

I have just finished reading ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ and at the end of his autobiography, Mandela writes, “I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb”  

Now, being the lazy person that I am, this particular observation doesn’t please me. Could Mandela not have closed his book jubilating in his party’s success? The man was 75 years old, he had spent a good portion of that in prison and he had finally brought an end to the oppressive regime of the South African government. In my eyes that is a well-earned retirement. But for him, the end of the apartheid was not his destination but rather a landmark on a journey that was yet to be completed.

I think that is the problem I have. I too often view my achievements to be my destination. They are where the road ends. Instead of continuing on an upward trajectory I plateau.

Another issue that I find is that, like those people attempting to complete the next stages of the Rubik’s cube, moving forward often feels like I am undoing, or having to redo the work of the past. When I start working on a new piece of music I cannot initially play with the fluency that I had with the piece I just perfected. I am once again fumbling through the notes, feeling like a beginner. Or when entering a sports tournament, I am once again at the bottom having to work my way back up to the top. What I’m starting to understand is that taking a few steps back, and launching into a new journey, doesn’t undo or diminish the achievements of the past. Prior achievements provide a platform to help elevate you, they’re a solid foundation from which you can build upwards. Well, that is if you don’t become complacent with where you are at.

I guess the moral of this story is that it is good to be content, but not complacent. Success and achievements are things to be celebrated, but there is only so long that you can sit at the top of a mountain and enjoy the view. Eventually, you need to embark on the next challenge. Eventually, you need to stop showing off the one side of the Rubik’s cube that you have completed, and try and figure out how to tackle the other five.

“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”

– Andy Grove