Silicon Valley is famous (or is that notorious?) for its 10X engineers. Those are the legendary few who create 10 times the value of the other engineers, enabling little start-ups with the super powers they need to take on the giants and disrupt them into oblivion. These unique individuals possess unique combinations of drive, focus, talent, energy and grit, and they combine these attributes with a sincere love of the game they’re playing.
And, unfortunately for too many people, that’s where the conversation begins and ends: “I don’t possess their talent.” “They knew what they wanted to be when they were tiny children.” “I’m still searching for my life’s purpose.” “How could anyone expect me to perform at their level?”
Excuses. Excuses that become easy to hide behind. We tell them to ourselves, convincing ourselves that we’re only in the prologue of our life’s story.
But if we tell them to ourselves long enough then somewhere along the way they’re no longer just the prologue. Given enough drive, focus, energy and grit they become the entire novel.
We don’t get to choose our genetic inheritance but we do get to choose our narrative. We may not have the talent to be 10X in the engineering or marketing or athletics department but we can devote drive, focus, energy and grit to plenty of other departments. We may not understand our life’s mission but there are lots of departments in our lives where we can be 10X.