I am also a terrible artist and have little musical ability, but at one point in my career, I may have been able to hit it over the Green Monster. A bit of a poke, but…once upon a time.

Yet I’m certainly no natural genius like Good Will Hunting. But, keep in mind, he's also a fictional creation of Matt Damon & Ben Affleck. The character shows us that we are more than capable of a lot of things. We'll be good at some, excellent at others.

For instance, like Will, my brain is somewhat attuned to math — I was doing calculus a good four years before most of my schoolmates. But there is really no comparison in aptitude between him and me. I can’t just look at an equation and come up with a mathematical proof for it.

Though they called me “advanced” in math, I was never really GREAT at it — probably because I didn't care about it. But I did the work and I got by. A's and B's.

Will Hunting did care about math. Bigly, to use the parlance of our times. He got a job as a janitor at M.I.T. so he could do high-end math when nobody was looking.

When I coached baseball, I wanted to learn how the best went about their jobs, so I volunteered as an assistant under state championship-winning coaches. I learned a lot.

Becoming good at something usually combines a firm purpose with hard work. Ten thousand hours type stuff, even though I am not particularly sold on Gladwellian theory.

Typically, if you're not good at something, you either lack the aptitude or the fortitude for your chosen endeavor. Maybe both. A lack of aptitude can often be overcome by force of will.

A lack of fortitude is usually a recipe for failure.

For instance, Jerry Seinfeld said, "learn to accept your mediocrity. No one's really that great. You know who is great? The people that just put a tremendous amount of hours into it. It's a game of tonnage."

Ted Williams, the great Boston Red Sox slugger, noted that “great hitters are not born, they’re made.” His one-time hitting coach, Rogers Hornsby, believed similarly.

Point is, you gotta work at it. People not as bright as you are getting the better jobs … by force of will. Look no further than the current vice president, whose story is no stranger to these pages.

Yes, Good Will Hunting is a work of fiction and the rest of us operate in the real world, but I love me some Will Hunting. He read a lot of books — enough to get him a $150,000 "education for $1.50 in late fees at the public library."

It doesn't hurt to read constantly. Every once and a while, it pays to avoid the non-stop drip of content on 𝕏-Twitter, too.

But as far as books go, it is easier than ever to cultivate an entire library of your own — physical and e-books — to help with your study when you step away from the screens.

There's always something to learn. When I’m not reading, you’ll often catch me listening to audiobooks or podcasts (and, of course, tending to the needs of my family).

More importantly, this new knowledge should be put into action. Otherwise, there's no point.

I often say to folks that I've made a lot of mistakes in life so you don't have to. A lot of action to resolve past missteps — and more to come.

Lots of mistakes make fertile ground for plenty of solutions. For more on our coaching:

As always,

Brian

P.S. — If you have questions, or comments, the lines of communication are open. Folks in my Inner Sphere program get priority in my inbox, but I will get back to you promptly.