The Brain is a Big Liar
Trust me guys, your brain is a scammer. The biggest one out there. It tells you: "Nah, you can't do that." Not because it's true, but becauseā¦ well, you haven't done it yet. Or maybe you've never seen anyone else do it.
And that, my friends, is the biggest lie I've ever heard.
Take typing speed for example. When I hit 90 WPM, I swore that was my peak. Like, how could my fingers possibly go faster without literally catching fire? I couldn't even imagine it.
But I pushed anyway. Two to three weeks later? 100 WPM.
Brain: "Okay okay, that's the limit now. No way you're going higher."
Me: "Watch me."
Fast forwardāI'm sitting at 130 WPM. And I'm laughing at myself because back then I thought 90 was some god-tier level. Meanwhile, there are people casually typing at 300 WPM. THREE. HUNDRED. Broā¦ do their fingers even have bones??
It's the same in competitive programming. I take 3ā5 minutes just to understand a problem. Meanwhile, guys like Gennady Korotkevich (a.k.a. Tourist), William Lin, Benq, ecnerwala, and the rest of the alien squad are out here reading a Codeforces essay-length problem in under 30 seconds. Then they take another 30 seconds to write the full solution.
By the time they're done with 3 problems, I'm just over here like: "Ohhh yeah, I think I finally get the question now." š
It feels unfair, but it's also proof that our limits are mostly fake. The brain doesn't actually know what your ceiling isāit just pretends it does.
So next time you feel like you've peaked, remember this: your brain lies. When it whispers "that's impossible," do one more rep, one more line, one more attempt.
Because half the time, the only thing standing between you and your next levelā¦ is your brain's big fat lie.