Your Next Two Zeroes

You can purchase a nice home for $1M. You can purchase a nice skyscraper for $100M.

10 people can participate in unmoderated discussion. 1,000 people require conference organizers.

Your tools/methods can usually scale by one order-of-magnitude; adding two zeroes forces you to rethink everything.

Consider bridges:

• 1-meter bridges can be constructed from uncooked pasta.
• 10-meter pedestrian footbridges can be found on an average golf course. Clever laymen could build one from wood, metal, concrete, etc.
• 100-meter highway bridges guide cars across rivers. At this scale, civil engineers must consider dynamic forces (e.g. traffic and wind), thermal expansion, and specialized construction machinery. Such projects generally demand steel and reinforced concrete.
• 1,000-meter bridges (e.g. Golden Gate Bridge) require specialized engineers. The architectures are deeply affected by local geological conditions, ecological impact, constructive interference/oscillations, etc. To suit unique/difficult terrain, these bridges must combine cutting-edge concrete, tensile steel, carbon composites, etc.
• 10,000-meter bridges (e.g. Millau Viaduct) are geopolitical ordeals -- they require interdisciplinary cooperation from the world's finest experts. At these lengths, architects must consider Earth's curvature.

Each 10x jump pushes knowledge/resources to logical limits, but a 100x jump disrupts all dimensions of your problem domain.

Every two zeroes, your best-kept secrets-to-success become your stinkiest instincts. To move forward, forsake your favorite skills/tools/methods/talents. Exceed yourself; become a novice again, again and again.