You're Already Hard to Copy

I’ve been down a weird pitching rabbithole thanks to baseball lately.

There are podcasts/YouTube videos for anything.

In case you didn’t know.

But with only so many pitches to throw, and with multi-angle video footage of every great pitcher pretty widely available these days - why not just copy what the best pitchers are doing?

Like if you are a pitcher, you can study it online so closely - you can slow it down, or change the angle, or research the diet/exercise/stretch routine of pretty much any professional - and then you can just do it, right?

Well, no.

Because it’s still really hard.

Because each pitcher's capability is built from thousands of invisible variables.

Because there are just so many variables at play.

From grip strengths, arm slots, muscle memory, brain memory, and - the sheer sub-conscious mechanics alone - it’s staggering when you start to think about it.

And that lesson applies to way more than baseball.

You can find anybody online doing something you want to do at a crazy-high level.

The hardest step is (always) caring enough to want to start.

Giving it an honest go, on your own, is the next hardest step.

And last but certainly not least, getting good relative to your own capabilities, over many many hard steps, is what becomes your differentiator.

To go back to pitching for a second, it’s remembering that your shoulder flexibility isn’t theirs. Or maybe that your 10,000 hours was earned in a different place under different conditions.

Every difference is a differentiator.

The best of the best can do an imitation, but can’t lock down all the variables.

It’s impossible.

So you can share everything you do and - you’ll still do it the way you do it, and they’ll still do it the way they do.

We’re all unique enough for this to matter.

The effort and passion, however, they’re as internal as they are evergreen.

Yeah, we’re all different.

Which means you’re already differentiated.

So, what are you waiting for?