You'll be surprise what you can do, if you really try...
The "nurture or nature debate" is one of the, oldest and most complex debates there is. Even when we talk about Michael Jordan, we must remember Michael Jordan wasn’t a child prodigy, with a basketball in his crib. If we just look at this excerpt from his biography we may learn something:
“As a child, Jordan played baseball, basketball and football. His preferred sport at the time was baseball but after he began spending a lot of time on the basketball court, his outlook changed. Because his older and taller brother, Larry, continuously kept beating him when they played one-on-one, he was determined to become a better player.
Ironically, in 1978, when Jordan attended Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, he was cut from the varsity team. Instead of giving up, however, he fought through adversity and became the greatest basketball player in the world.”
This story, of a average guy or under-achiever, overcoming his failures and obstacles, is a common story on the road to greatness. Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali were beat-up and picked-on in their youth. Many great models thought that they were unattractive and were teased about their looks, when they were younger. Here’s a bio page on the great Olympic track star Wilma Rudolph:
Wilma Rudolph - Three-time Olympic gold medalist
Wilma Rudolph was no stranger to adversity in sports or life. As a child, she suffered from double pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio, which caused her to lose the use of her left leg. At age nine, she was able to walk without the metal leg brace. A basketball standout in high school, Rudolph was recruited to run track for Tennessee State University. The rest is history - Olympic history that is. Rudolph went on to win three Olympic gold medals in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. With these victories, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field in one Olympic Games.
I believe the majority of stories of great and extraordinary people who seem to be born to “do-what-they-do” are familiar. They seem to find the tenacity, sagacity, drive, unusual faith, the over-coming of adversity and a deep love and more so, a great passion for what they do. Their physical abilities and mental aptitude, though important, are only relevant if they are confident, that they really want to win.
Like one of the old elders use to tell me, “You got to stay in the race”!
Peace