The problem is not the problem. The problem is that you let the problem stop you. It’s not a lack of preparation that holds you back. It’s not an absence of passion, or resources, or opportunity, that keeps you from achieving.

 

The only things that can hold you back are your failure to begin and your failure to continue. Fortunately those factors are completely within your control, right this moment. Begin, and you’ve opened up a way forward. Continue, work through each challenge as it arises, and you’ll get where you intend to go.

 

Achievement begins when you take responsibility for it with your actions. Achievement happens when you follow through on that responsibility. Ultimately achievement boils down to what you do. Begin the work, continue until it’s done, and you can make many good things happen in this world. Think of all the things you’ve learned in your life. When you were born, you did not know how to walk, or talk, or feed yourself. You’ve learned to read, to count, to travel from place to place. Just in the last few years you’ve learned how to communicate by e-mail and get access to online information. Because of what you’ve learned, you are not limited to the initial skills and knowledge with which you were born. The things you’ve learned have enabled you to vastly better understand and interact with the world around you. You’ve learned your way around the external terrain. And those same learning skills can be used to overcome the internal obstacles which hold you back. Just as you’ve learned to read, you can learn to be more focused. Just as you’ve learned to walk, you can learn to be more disciplined. There’s no need to settle for the limited resources you were born with. You can learn.