Over the millennium 1999 to 2000, I went to Miami with friends on a long-planned trip, about six months after I got married.
We were in a bar one evening, playing pool, when an American guy came up and challenged any of us to a game.
He said he would play one-handed and wouldn't rest his queue on the edge of the table.
Try it next time you're somewhere with a pool table.
If you try hitting the cue ball without resting it, let alone on your hand or even on the side of the table, it is almost impossible.
I promise you that he could screw the cue ball back one-handed without resting the queue on the table.
He beat anybody that came at him.
It was unbelievable to watch.
We chatted to him, bought him a drink, and caught up with him about how he got to that stage. He told us that he used to be a professional pool player on the 'circuit' (whatever that was), but no one would play him if he played two-handed.
He was right-handed and could play pool left-handed, one-handed, without resting his cue on the table.
I remember that vividly, but I also remember that I never thought I could be him. I never thought I could do that because it would have taken a lifetime of work, effort, and dedication to develop that skill.
That is why it's so extraordinary from Seth's blog the other day that I read (and I don't republish Seth very often), but you can read it here where he talks about the study recently published where 30% of British males think if they trained for the next four years, they could go to the Olympics.
The study is here; it's quite extraordinary.
30% of men and 25% of women think they could compete in several sports at the Olympics if they worked for the next four years.
What is the source of that madness?
Entitlement? Delusion?
Living in a world of complete fantasy?
Do these people have no idea what it takes to get here?
Perhaps their expectations were dumbed down by the story of Yusuf Dikeç, the Turkish shooter who turned up with his hand in his pocket and no protection and won the silver medal, Bang Bang in the Pistols.
If you look back at him, though, he is a world record shooting champion who has been shooting his whole life, and so for him to turn up and shoot with his hand in his pocket and no goggles is like the guy playing pool with one hand.
It's a bigger problem, though, isn't it?
Everyone thinks they are entitled to everything.
Everyone thinks they can have anything.
Badminton was the third most common sport for which people thought they could qualify for the Olympics in four years.
Have you ever actually watched an Olympic badminton player play badminton?
There is no chance on God's good Earth that anybody could get there without 20 years of hard work, dedication, no drinking, going to bed early and travelling the world to hone your skills.
As Seth says so wonderfully in his blog, It's better that we spend the next four years trying to get good at something realistic than being deluded into thinking that we can be the world champions in anything.
Blog Post Number - 3904
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