Exceptionalism

Sherlock and Mycroft are brothers, both are exceptional but as in life, one candle outshines the other. Throughout their childhood one was always more capable, more insightful and more observing than the other. That's right, Sherlock was always second fiddle.

For those of you not familiar with the Sherlock Holmes stories, allow me to shed a little light. Sherlock's brother appeared in a couple of stories and it was always mentioned that his brain was much larger that of his baby brothers. His only trouble was that he was lazy. While Sherlock would occasionally go and ask a question of him, past that he wasn't much use.

Laziness is the sapping kryptonite of potential. You can have all the potential in the world, but if your don't apply yourself, what good is it? Anyway...what was I typing? Mercy... 500 words is looking like a thousand to me right now. I think I'm just going to throw in the towel. Maybe tomorrow I'll have the desire to finish this...

...yawn

Okay okay!!

Anyway. The point is simple. Sherlock was the better of the two, not because of all the potential that he had been blessed with, but because of all the tenacity that he applied to a situation. He cataloged the various dirt's of London, had exstensive knowledge of ballistics and took a painstakingly tedious amount of time investigating a crime scene. He rarely slept while on a case and was able to overcome an opiate addiction on his own. He is the pinnacle of the fictional self made man.

So exceptionalism isn't a birthright. It's a choice. Just becuase you were born with potential doesn't mean you will amount to anything. We see people throw away their lives everyday, who had buckets of potential. Potential is nothing compared to tenacity.

We make choices every day. Good ones, bad ones and benign ones fly at us all the time. We have a choice to apply ourselves or not. Tenacious people fail frequently. They fall on their faces time and time again. The difference between tenacious people and potential people is getting back up. I've heard so many sob stories in my day, "I've had it rough." or "You don't know what I've been through." or "I'm just not as exceptional as they are."

Guff! Hogwash! Malarkey!

Doing isn't easy, but it's motion. You cannot progress without motion. All the brains in the world can't make someone go if they've got no motivation. So get up, and do it.

Go. Try. Fail. Learn. Do.