You Can Achieve Anything — Even The Impossible — If You Are Willing To Do What It Takes

“In doing what is necessary you sometimes end up doing the impossible.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

When people ask me what I do for a living, and I tell them I’m a writer, one of the first things they like to tell me is a story about how they “can’t write.” They speak to me about writing as if it is something you’re born with, like luscious curls, and loudly lament the fact that they were not.

I’m not sure what the purpose of telling me this is, but it comes off as if they’re making excuses for themselves.

Anyone who’s read even a lick of writing advice knows nobody is born a writer. To become a good writer, you have to practice every day, tirelessly, for as long as you live. You can’t stop because you have an article go viral, or a book you wrote becomes a bestseller. You can only stop when you die.

Nobody is born anything, for that matter. We are not born knowing how to read, write, paint, play basketball, or run million-dollar businesses.

The only things we’re born knowing how to do are cry, eat, and poop. The rest, we learn.

Everything, from having sex to cooking a good meal to becoming a writer to running a million-dollar business, is a learned skill.

The amazing thing about learned skills is, anyone who’s willing to put in the effort to learn can learn them. The act of learning is open to everyone.

Thoughtful readers will step in here and say some people are more talented than others. And yes, it’s true that some people have talent. Some people are born with certain characteristics that give them a natural advantage at some things.

Talent, however, does not make people great.

LeBron James is an excellent example of this. LeBron was born with a massive amount of talent — with his six-foot-eight frame and hands the size of trash can lids, anyone could have guessed he’d be good at basketball. But there are loads of tall people with big hands, and they’re all good at basketball too. What makes LeBron the best in the world is not his huge frame, but his huge work ethic. His workout routine is insane. He’s trained more by noon than most people do all day.

If LeBron tried to coast through his basketball career on talent alone, he would not be the best in the world. He may not have even gone pro. He would have been a decent player in high school and had an okay college career. He certainly wouldn’t have been number one in the world for most of a decade.

Having talent is like having a head start in a race. It only makes a difference if you take advantage of it.

Talent does not make a big difference anyway. Lack of talent can be overcome. Quite easily, in fact.

In the book Lifelong Writing Habit, writer Chris Fox explains how little talent mattered for his writing career:

In high school everyone knew I was going to be a writer. I was praised constantly for essays and short stories. Yet… as soon as it became difficult I quit.

I have a friend who didn’t. In high school we called his writing Saul-speak, because it was nearly impossible to read. Most words were misspelled. Those that weren’t were often the wrong word (two instead of too). He was terrible, yet he wanted to be a novelist.

I quit. He didn’t. A decade later he had two novels published and I had none. Saul worked on his craft tirelessly, deliberately practicing skills every day. That dedication made him a great writer, despite the fact that in high school everyone would have told you what he wanted to accomplish was impossible.

Essentially, what really mattered was not how talented Fox and his classmate were, but how much work they were willing to put in.

Maybe you have a big dream, like becoming a famous writer or entrepreneur. Maybe you have a little dream, like going to a karaoke night with your friends and knocking their socks off with your singing.

Either way, these dreams are not out of reach. You don’t need God to gift you with talent and skill. The only thing separating you from your dreams is work.

If you’re willing to do the work, though, the world becomes your oyster. Anything from mad dancing moves to sharp business sense to exquisite piano skills can be yours. If you are willing to do the work, there is nothing you cannot do.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

— Henry Dodd

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