There are some things in life that are almost certainly out of reach, but in many cases it can be worth chasing after them anyhow. A great example is guitarist Joe Walsh of the Eagles, with a story that is seemingly true, though admittedly disputed a bit.
From a now-defunct Eagles fan site is this story of Walsh:
He was a devout eclectic, majoring in an odd conglomeration of courses — electronics, music theory and welding — and supplementing his conventional training with intensive, self-imposed extracurricular studies of Beatles songs. He knew them all and became a local legend by performing the dual-guitar harmony riff in “And Your Bird Can Sing” from the Revolver album on a single guitar. Actually, he didn’t realize it wasn’t one guitar and found a way to “make it work” — a typical Joe Walsh philosophy in music and in life.
He heard a song and did his best to play it, even though the original was with two guitars. He didn’t quite get there (he “made it work”), but his attempt to play it alone was almost certainly amazing and made him a far better guitarist as a result.
For me, it’s discussions like this the ones I see between people like Adam Grant and Malcolm Gladwell. The video below is a perfect example; the entire thing is worth watching, but just catch from 3:20 – 4:00 to see what I mean.
Malcolm asks Adam “What is the last story in Blink?” referring to a book that Malcolm wrote 15 years earlier, and has written a half-dozen books since. Adam knew it instantly.
Now, I’m sure Adam had prepared for this conversation, but I doubt I’d remember the last story from my own book 15 years earlier in among all of their other conversation. The depth of knowledge and memory of these two is astounding, and I love watching them just pick things apart in videos like this.
This blog is part of my attempt to become more like that, yet I know full well I almost certainly won’t get there. That’s ok. My efforts to strive toward that kind of insight about the world is a good thing, even if I never get to the point of being able to recall specific details of a 15-year-old book.
The same logic can apply to working out consistently (despite long odds of going to the Olympics) or pouring your heart into growing your business (despite long odds of becoming an enduring company).
The value is in the striving.
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