An inspirational platitude I often hear is "If you set your mind on something and work hard enough, you can achieve anything." Unfortunately for self-help gurus everywhere, it's just not that easy.
Take for instance the sad tale of Donald Crowhurst, a British businessman who was driven to compete in the first around-the-world solo yacht race. With his business failing, he set his sights on this race set up by British paper The Daily Mail. He thought the money he would win for coming in first would solve his financial woes. Too bad he was in no way qualified to sail anything around the world solo, let along a unique trimaran of his own design. He called this unseaworthy boat the Teignmouth Electron.
It did not end well for him. His initial over-confidence coupled with his shame over the possibility of backing out ultimately led to his doom. The picture above shows his boat, shipwrecked today in the Cayman islands.
The 2006 documentary Deep Water tells the story of that around-the-world race with a focus on Crowhurst's participation. It's a chilling film that I highly recommend.
I think successful people preach "determination can overcome anything" and "hard work solves all" to make themselves feel good about how they got to where they are. Wanting something is an important step to getting it, absolutely. And lots of hard work will probably be required. But willpower and perseverance are not enough. You also need things like training, talent, skill, and the money to buy the right equipment. And, yes, a good amount of luck. Be ambitious, yes, but don't be insane in your ambition.
Something that Mr. Crowhurst's sad story should remind us all.
