Numerator or denominator?

Alexander Lyadov
2 min readJul 22, 2022
GEN Z

Every activity requires its adherents to make sacrifices. The outsider wonders: “Who could ever be attracted to this horror?” Pick any profession, sport, or hobby, and there are those who wrinkle their noses at once. What’s the fun of crushing, breaking, and strangling each other in sweat-soaked kimonos, at the risk of dislocating a joint or splitting an eyebrow? Or saddling a fragile “stool,” at 100 km / h, looping in a herd of metal “elephants”? How about taking out a loan secured by an apartment to then invest all the money in your new business with no guarantee that it will ever take off? Sounds eerily like the leap of faith without a parachute in the legendary movie “Point Break” (1991).

And while absolutely all human pursuits have haters as well as fans, for some reason people argue to the hilt whether something is bad or good. The question is not what the possible loss of health, reputation, time, or money is. What’s in the “denominator” is more or less clear. The big question is, what is in the “numerator”? The trick is that there is no universal answer. You have to ask yourself the question and either find or not find personal meaning in activity X.

Even if many people do something with passion, this does not mean that their meaning is the same. Many motifs, like trails to the summit, lead climbers across the western, northern, eastern, and southern slopes. For example, people do not come to Brazilian jiu-jitsu just for self-defense skills. One is impressed by a versatile physical load in the form of a game, the other creatively expresses himself, the third collects insights, the fourth only here finds control over himself, the fifth develops fear of aggression, the sixth, alas, spits out his sadistic nature, and the seventh seeks and finds true friends.

Whatever you have to do, it is certainly important to be aware of the true cost. But having an answer to the question, “What’s in it for me?” is infinitely more important.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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Alexander Lyadov
Alexander Lyadov

Written by Alexander Lyadov

As a business therapist, I help tech founders increase the value of their business by unlocking the potential of their personality.

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