Persevere With A Side of Determination

I remember when I was in preschool, at three or four years old, I had a mission. I wouldn't stop for nothing or anything. Hell, I had already had my first kiss. There was only one thing left to conquer.

The basketball hoop.

Now the details are a bit foggy. Give me a break its been at least 25 years since. I want to say it was a ten foot hoop. Was it really? I don't know. It very well could have been an eight foot hoop. Considering this happened in 1990ish, I'd be willing to bet it was a ten foot hoop.

Shot after shot after shot.

Miss after miss after miss.

I remember watching the ball fly upward toward the sky, reaching for the basket. Each time reaching the apex of its arch it stalled, motionless in the air, as if the ball were actually contemplating on going in. Only it never did. It was never really close to going in. Never though, did any of my failures keep me from thinking I wasn't capable.

I pressed on.

Shot after shot after shot.

Miss after miss after miss.

Months went by without making it in. I pressed on. I had to. I hadn't made a basket yet and I wouldn't stop until I did. It was all I did when I was given time outside. I never played with any of the other kids. I would just take shot after shot.

I never once thought about how much I suck at shooting a basketball. I never once thought, "I can't." I never let anyone convince me otherwise. And oh did they try.

Adult caretaker - "Why don't you find something to do you know you can do?"

Me - "But I haven't done this yet. I've already done everything else here. This is the only thing I haven't done."

(Not virbatum...but pretty much how it went.)

Then. One day. After months of constant failure. I made the shot. The whole group of kids and adults on the playground stopped playing or teaching to clap and cheer for me. I honestly had no idea people were paying enough attention to me, all those months, to see the amount of work I put into one task. To see how badly I wanted to succeed.

I succeeded. I made it happen. I put the work in and got paid back. Yes, it took a long time (to a preschooler). My success 25 years ago was making the ball into the basket. Today, I understand my real success was in all the days of missing but never giving up. Never quitting because it was too difficult. Never thinking, "I can't." Always thinking, "I can."

"You've got to win in your mind before you can win in your life." - John Addison

My way of thinking still holds true today. And it holds true for you if you believe it is true. Your mind, your thoughts, stop you from greatness first. It isn't your job. Your home life. A lack of time. It's you.

If you want to make something happen. You need to rewire the mind to think a different way. Your self-talk needs to be, "I can."  There's no amount of oppression in life, internally or externally, that can make anything impossible. Accepting oppression as the truth is what makes things seem impossible.

Believe in yourself. Believe you can. Believe you will.

You can.

You will.