FRACTURE

Unlike most other animals, we humans aren’t born knowing how to walk. We tried to sit and failed. We tried to stand and failed. Then we tried to walk—and failed again. Yet we never gave up. We fell on our faces, scraped our knees, hurt ourselves, cried, and then tried again.

We weren’t born with the ability to speak. At first, all we could do was make a high-pitched sound—what we call “crying”—and offer a lovely, unforgettable smile. But we were curious about the world around us. Gradually, we learned to control our tongues, make sense of the sounds people use to distinguish things and convey ideas, and imitate them in our own way.

All this—and more—happened only because we stayed consistent, unknowingly and curiously. Yet now, when we need it more than ever—when we need to uncover the mysteries of the universe—we’re too lazy and ignorant to recognize the power of the very consistency that shaped us and brought us to where we are today.

Consistency is vital for development in any field. You may not succeed the first time you try something new, but remember this: if a trial leads to failure, let that failure lead you back to another trial. You may need to try many times to succeed—perhaps hundreds, or even thousands. But if you stay consistent and don’t fear failure—even if the whole world mocks you—you can still proudly say you tried, which most of those mockers never did.

Here’s a clear example of consistency expressed in the language of mathematics:

$$ \begin{aligned} 1.00^{500} &= 1\\ 1.01^{500} &≈ 144\\ 1.02^{500} &≈ 19,956\\ 1.03^{500} &≈ 2,621,877\\ \end{aligned} $$

Let’s look at another example:

A 500 mL bottle of pure water contains about $5.01\times10^{25}$ atoms. That number is so large that even if you counted one atom every second, you wouldn’t be able to finish in a lifetime—or in the lifetime of humanity, or even within the age of the universe.

Since the age of the universe is about $4.35\times10^{17}$ seconds,

$$ \begin{aligned} \text{Ratio} &= \frac{5.01\times10^{25}}{4.35\times10^{17}} \approx 1.15\times10^8 \end{aligned} $$

So the bottle contains roughly 115 million times more atoms than the total number of seconds that have passed since the universe began.

Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity.
— Bruce Lee

Everything is made of tiny parts. In a broader sense, everything is built from smaller pieces joined together.

Infinity $(\infty)$—a concept that has fascinated mathematicians for centuries—can be seen as an endless addition of tiny parts: a sum with no end. There are positive and negative infinities, and smaller and larger infinities—but let’s not get into that yet.

My point is simple: small steps, compounded over time, lead to greater success. So we should keep learning, overcome the fear of failure, ignore the detractors, and stay calm, patient, hopeful, and—most importantly—consistent with every breath we take.