Wisdom comes in many forms. Socrates asked questions, Jesus told parables, Zen masters use koans. As one of the great philosophers of our time, Homer Simpson Rinpoche has chosen to hide his wisdom in wry witticisms, forcing people to mine the buried gems. He has informed and enlightened us without our being aware of it as we laughed at him, with realization of the truth of his pith instructions coming later. One of his most astute observations remains underappreciated, at great cost to our society.
“Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.” Most people laugh this off and miss the deep knowledge here: If you can’t do something, don’t try to do it.
“Wait, what was that again? You expect people to know ahead of time if they can do something or not?” Yes, exactly. You know, or should know, whether you have a real chance of succeeding. Most things are determined in advance, mostly by genes. You won’t win a Fields Medal if you aren’t elite at mathematics before you even begin work on your brilliant proof. You were never going to play in the NFL. Tyron Lannister was never going to be The Mountain. “Oh, now you’re just being silly”. No, I’m quite serious. Hafthor Bjornsson has two brothers who are bigger than he is. The only difference between being as strong as Hafthor or as fast as Usain Bolt on the one hand, and being a great painter or musician on the other, is that the physical things are easier to see and harder for people to deny, although people still try. I’ll unpack this a little more — you are as likely to play like Yo Yo Ma as you are to throw a football like Aaron Rodgers, and to the same degree. You will not get there.
“But what about the 10,000 hour rule”? There is no such rule. That’s something that was made up to sell a book. Do you think that Jennifer Connelly put 10,000 hours into being beautiful? Did Manute Bol practice for 10,000 hours to be 7 feet 7 inches tall with long arms and quick reflexes? Use your brain for a second — do you think that you will be able to throw a baseball 100 miles an hour like Nolan Ryan if you put in ten years of practice? “So you’re saying that people don’t need practice?” Please stop being difficult, dear reader. You want to resist this obvious truth because you’ve been sold hope. Hope sells. Hope is a powerful drug. It’s seductive, intoxicating. It feels great until it leads us to ruin.
Forget those inspirational stories.”But Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team”. No, he just didn’t make the varsity as a freshman. When he was 16 he already had an offer to play for Duke. Think about these stories for a second before you repeat them and make them part of your worldview. Yes, Kurt Warner bagged groceries for a little while between being a star in arena football and playing in the NFL. Do you think that you will also get there? It’s not that hard to understand. In a domain where you can stumble on to success, who knows? You can get lucky in some things. You can win the World Series of Poker but you won’t be a successful pro unless you have the natural abilities.
It’s a hard pill to swallow. I resisted this for a long time, much to my detriment and regret. Accept who you are — and aren’t. You can try to succeed against long odds but make sure, as Elon Musk says, that success is one of the possible outcomes. You don’t get points for trying.