Many people want to accomplish fantastic things yet fail to do so and the causes can be numerous, but I wanted to touch on one of the common causes of failure that I have observed in others and in my own experience.

Working in the nuclear Navy has greatly assisted the development of my reasoning faculty in a rapid and significant way. A substantial amount of that growth came from the painfully embarrassing experience of being totally wrong about something or overlooking important details and falling flat of my face.

In the nuclear Navy, we are constantly performing complex evolutions that require a substantial amount of planning and coordination and a failure to execute properly can require hours or even days of rework and an evolution performed incorrectly can result in extreme consequences, after all, we’re dealing with nuclear power here.

Before we would begin any evolution, first we would take whatever time was necessary to verify our initial conditions. Valves had to be in certain positions, equipment had to be in the proper configuration, and chemistry and temperature and pressure had to be set all just to start the procedure. Setting and verifying initial conditions could take longer than the evolution itself in some cases.

It’s the initial conditions that people fail to set and verify when they decide to take on a lofty goal that are often the cause of failing to accomplish those goals.

Take for example the new exercise enthusiast who decides to whip themselves into shape. They set a goal to lose “X” amount of weight or build “X” amount of muscle, and they launch themselves into an exercise routine they saw on YouTube.

Most of them last a couple of weeks, and if they last longer than that and are still unsatisfied with their results, it often due to not setting initial conditions. I know because I’ve done this a couple of times myself.

Maybe they go to the gym but they’re tired and have a mediocre workout or they use their lack of energy as an excuse to not go to the gym. That lack of energy is usually due to not setting initial conditions.

Maybe they didn’t get enough sleep because they stayed up too late scrolling on TikTok. Maybe they are tired because they have an unhealthy diet or because they are crashing from the excessive caffeine they had in the morning.

Perhaps they are one of the many that never drink enough water and are constantly dehydrated. The problem lies in the initial conditions. They falsely believe that as long as they show up and run or lift some weights that they’ll get the body they desire.

If you want to see progress from exercise and get the most out of your workouts you have to get enough rest. You have to hydrate your body and nourish it with healthy food. You have to kick bad habits that rob you of your energy. The exercise itself is only a small part of the process that we become hyper-focused on and tend forget all the other things we have to do to make that exercise productive and beneficial.

A reactor plant is similar to a human body in that it has fluids, gases, chemistry and pressures and temperatures and to obtain certain outcomes, conditions have to be set to allow those processes to be capable of doing what they should do. I used to have a fantasy-like outlook on health and exercise and believed that as long as I didn’t give up and exercised when I said I would that everything I desired would be mine. I was wrong.

The nuclear Navy cleansed me of child-like notions such as these and helped me realize that the devil is in the details and that science and nature aren’t forces you can magically overcome. You must work with them and not against them. Give nature the conditions it needs to perform its work and it will do the work for you.

You plant a seed in nutritious soil, water it with clean water, and give it the proper amount of sunlight, and one day nature will build you a magnificent tree. It’s the same with your body and your goals. Give it what it needs and it will do it for you.

Failing to set initial conditions is like setting a goal, saying that is the place I want to be and then putting vegetable oil in your car instead of gas and wondering why your car doesn’t work. Maybe you put the right kind of gas in your car but you haven’t changed the oil in years and you break down halfway through the journey and don’t understand why. You didn’t maintenance your car, you drove with bald tires, no headlights and wonder why you can’t get to your destination because all you can think about is the end goal.

Change the way you think about accomplishing goals and ask yourself, what do I have to do first, or what do I need to have first, before I start working towards this goal because it is a basic necessity required to accomplish that goal?

Setting initial conditions is tedious and annoying at times, but wasting your time and realizing you’ll never get that thing you want because you didn’t do that one tiny thing and now the goal is unattainable or requires loads of rework is vastly more painful.

Work with nature and not against it. Set the initial conditions necessary and work according to principles and not fantasy. Not only with it set you up for success but it will save you heartbreak in the future.