Dedication

I have a great time with my life and it’s something that I want to share. I love living. I think it’s infectious. It’s something that you can’t fake. In my case, it would be swimming. Starting out high school at the varsity level as a freshman takes quite a bit of dedication. Some people might think that it takes greatness to be that dedicated to something. However, I believe that, greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, illusive, “god-like” feature that only the special among us will ever taste. It’s something that truly exists in all of us. It’s very simple. This is what I believe and I’m willing to die for it. Period. It’s that simple. So, obviously, from there you do what you need to do. And I think what happens is we make the situation more complex than it has to be. I’m not growing up with the sense that where I am is where I’m going to be. You know? I’m growing up with a sense that where I am, almost doesn’t matter because I can become something greater. There’s no shortcut to success. The separation of talent and skill is one of the greatest misunderstood concepts for people who are trying to excel, who have dreams, who want to do things. Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft. I’ve never really viewed myself as particularly talented. However, where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic. You know, while the other guy’s sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy’s eating, I’m working. There’s no easy way around it. No matter how talented you are, your talent is going to fail you if your not skilled, if you don’t study, work really hard and dedicate yourself to being better every single day. You’ll never be able to communicate with people or with your artistry the way that you want. Building a wall is a great analogy in this case. You don’t set out to build a wall and say I’m going to build the biggest, badest, (if badest is even a word) greatest wall that’s ever been built. You don’t start there. You start by saying; I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. Then you do that every single day and soon enough, you will have your wall.