Hello everyone!
My name is Graham Peterson, and I am the newest writer for Human Prowess! As for who I am and what I do, I am a people person! (seriously, talking to you in person is wayyy easier than typing but I'm doing my best to convey my chaotic personality across a screen) secondly I am a big believer, in people, in God, and in growth. I have been in missions the past 5 years since high-school and it has been a ride… typically airplanes and buses… lots of buses. For a guy who hadn't ever left home, it opened me up to a world full of cultures, of stories, and of lessons to be learned, sometimes personally and most often the hard way. Through and from those experiences, I have learned to love writing and speaking on growth and Jaron has invited me to do just that with Human Prowess.
I love what Human Prowess stands for: pondering what success is, thinking about how we grow, and giving insight on how to navigate a world where most are settling well beneath their potential. Human Prowess is about utilizing everything humanity has been given and taking the next step forward.
Looking forward to that walk with you all.
Clean the Car Doors Nobody Sees
When you hear the word flaw, what do you think of? Many of you probably thought of the definition, some may have thought of something that someone else does that ticks you off, but I believe we rarely take time to look inward, to think about what we can improve on as individuals.
You see the sun is shining and summer is in full swing and I am writing an article about cleaning out your car doors… I realized I should probably clean mine before I started telling others to.
I'm not a messy person by most standards and aside from the typical dirt, napkins, and empty water bottle (we have all been there at one point or another), but all in all, it was fairly clean by the young adult males' standard.
But like I said, this is about cleaning the car doors. This is not what everybody sees, but rather what they, and most times even you, don't see.
Two of my doors were spotless, in pristine shape but the problem was the other two, just out of my view from my spot in the drivers seat. The first had gum that had been there God knows how long, and the other one had a cup holder full of junk… I remember thinking "I didn't even know my car had cup holders."
The Attention Problem
That's the reality of the life we live: we are so focused on going and doing, that our attention has begun to lack in crucial areas; and I believe it's our attention that is the crux of this. The ironic thing is how once we actually identify what needs to change, it takes minimal effort to actually do so. The key is it takes time. James Clear talks in his book, Atomic Habits that the math is 1% change. How if we did this 0.01 improvement daily, we end up 37 times better. (Clear, 2018, p. 15)
As fantastic as this growth can be, it must begin by being aware of what the changes need to be, then correcting small flaws and growing in the subtle strengths pay large dividends.
The Empire would be ruling if it wasn't for a small design flaw, and while I am not saying every detail has to be perfect, I am saying as many errors as possible need to be accounted for in our health, our mental state, and our lifestyle.
And if no one is going to do anything about it except you, you won't know what mess you have, what flaws unless you take time to look inward and reflect on who you are and start getting rid of the little bits of crap that start to fill up the corners of all parts of your life.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Health is a fantastic example of this; a CDC study shows that 9 in 10 elderly adults, 8 in 10 middle-aged adults, and 6 in 10 young adults have chronic conditions that could have been preventable by minor lifestyle changes. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2025)
NAMI states that the average delay between onset of mental illness symptoms and treatment is 11 years. (National Alliance on Mental Illness [NAMI], 2025)
I share these statistics not to frighten us but to invite us to take a look around but first and foremost, look inward. Take stock of what's going on in your body, in your mind and in your life.
We expect the elderly and the middle-aged to have some issues arise as they age, but think about this: over half your workplace is walking around with conditions they are ignoring, and they are suffering for it, and you likely are as well, whether physical or mental, but the truth is we are the ones who have to see our own red flags, as small as they are, and address them before they grow.
Don't Clean Alone
Now the saying goes that "the first step to any problem is acknowledging that it exists." Now I would continue that to say that the second step is bringing people into it. Alcoholics Anonymous and many other recovery programs have massive evidence that community is one of the most impactful forces for long-lasting change in a person's behavior. I say this so that once you start the process of cleaning out junk in these car doors people can't see, bring in a friend to help make sure you follow through.
People are far more concerned with what they can see (or we show) than with the whole story, and we miss so much because of that. We take that practice to our own lives and neglect areas in our health and our mental process that can lead to greater health and peace of mind actually addressed. We need to acknowledge the room for improvement and begin improvement, ideally not in isolation.
The reality is that no one will get this perfect; to continue the analogy, a clean car is only special because it doesn't last; life gets messy again, and we have more crap to clean. Consider this a kind reminder: you are the ones in control and you have permission and authority to start taking care of this.
Because only you know, so only you can do anything about it.
The Minds We Pulled From This Week
James Clear, Atomic Habits (2018) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
A Note on This Community
Human Prowess is a referred community. Every subscriber is here because someone who knows them thought they belonged. If someone in your life is doing the work, asking the hard questions, and genuinely trying to grow, share this with them. That's how we keep this what it is.
That’s the letter.
-Graham