Part of one of my favorite songs from The Book of Mormon Musical goes like this:

• Something incredible
• I’ll do something incredible
• I wanna be the Mormon
• Who changed all of mankind
• Something I’ve foreseen
• Now that I’m nineteen
• I’ll do something incredible
• That blows God’s freaking mind

Don’t we all want to do something incredible with our lives? Maybe it’s not something that blows God’s mind, but at least it surprises those who know us well. Or, as Brook Hayes once said, “In back of every man’s achievement is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.” But few of us ever find the success we are hoping for.

What does it take to do something incredible? According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers,[i] the key to achieving world-class expertise in any skill is practicing correctly for at least 10,000 hours. In other words, lots of perfect practice makes perfect.

This past month, I watched three terrific films about people who have done incredible things.

Nyad[ii] tells the true story of Diana Nyad’s (played by Annette Benning) attempt to swim from Cuba to the United States. That’s 103 miles as the gull flies. Her first attempt at this feat was in 1978, at age 28. However, strong currents pulled her off course, and team doctors pulled her out of the ocean after swimming 78 miles. In 1979, she retired from competitive long-distance swimming after setting the world record for swimming 102 miles from North Bimini Beach in the Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida. But over 30 years later, Nyad, now age 60, decided to try the Cuba to Florida swim again. Here is a scene from the film where she announces her intent to her best friend, Bonnie Stoll (played by Jodie Foster):

It took Nyad five attempts, but she finally completed the swim on September 2, 2013, at the age of 64, 35 years after her first attempt. The swim took her 52 hours and 54 minutes. Nyad is currently streaming on Netflix.

In The Burial,[iii] inspired by actual events, a lawyer helps a funeral home owner save his family business from a corporate giant and, in the process, exposes racial prejudice, power, and injustice. The case ultimately led to the corporation’s bankruptcy. The lawyer, Willie Gary (played by Jamie Foxx) had humble beginnings. He was one of eleven children of a poor sharecropper. But he recognized the importance of education. He began attending school two half-days a week and helped his father farm the other three days. At age 13, he helped support his family by starting a lawn service business. But he went on to college on a football scholarship and ultimately graduated from law school, the first in his family to graduate from high school and go on to college. He started the first Black law firm in Martin County, Florida, and became an expert in personal injury law. Here is a scene from the movie that convinces the family funeral business’s owner to hire Gary in his case against the corporate behemoth:

Even though contract law was not his specialty, Gary ultimately won a $500 million judgment against the corporation, although the parties settled on $175 million on appeal. The Burial is currently streaming on Prime Video.

Rustin[iv] is the true story of how Bayard Rustin (played by Colmon Domingo) organized the famous “March on Washington” supporting the Civil Rights Movement in 1963. In that march, over 200,000 people came from all over the country supporting civil rights. Making the logistics involved in such a gathering that much more difficult, Rustin was openly gay, which was seen by many back then as a perversion, meaning Rustin had to do most of his work behind the scenes. Here is the trailer for the film (which is currently streaming on Netflix):

President Obama awarded Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, posthumously in 2013.

So, how do we accomplish incredible things? Diana Nyad, after completing her remarkable swim, makes three important points:

1. Never, ever give up.
2. You’re never too old to chase your dreams.
3. Long-distance swimming looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team (40 people accompanied Nyad on her remarkable swim).

Nyad has some good advice. But maybe we are asking the wrong question. Perhaps we should be asking, what qualifies as something incredible? In my estimation, most of us have done incredible things that we probably don’t recognize as incredible. For example, here is a list of ten things I consider to be incredible that I have failed to accomplish (but wish that I had):

• Worked thirty-plus years without ever being fired or demoted.
• Ran a marathon
• Tuned up my car
• Sang a solo in church or a play
• Built a piece of furniture with my own hands
• Pitched a no-hitter
• Got straight A’s on a report card
• Learned to tap dance
• Became a best-selling writer
• Made a high school varsity team

I love these words of Stephen Hawking (played by Eddie Redmayne) (from the film The Theory of Everything): “There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.”

I would add, “No matter how small that something might be.” I email my family quotes, articles, and silly jokes each week. I hope they find them helpful as they battle life’s challenges. I end those emails with this: Do the best you can with what you’ve got.

Everyone’s challenges are different, and we shouldn’t judge our successes by comparing our lives to what others have accomplished. To someone struggling with a mental illness, such as depression, for example, just getting out of bed in the morning is accomplishing something incredible.

But I have done some incredible things—at least incredible to me. I have been happily married for 48 years—perhaps my greatest accomplishment, and certainly my wife’s for sticking with me for so long. Although I am not a best-selling author, I have written four novels and this blog, which a few people have found inspiring or at least entertaining. And although no one would ever pay to hear me perform, I have learned to play the guitar and, to a lesser extent, the piano.

In short, all of us can do (and have done) incredible things. The key is not to sell yourself short. If you examine your life, you will find plenty of things that others, knowing your circumstances, would find incredible. So, be proud of your accomplishments, whether large or small.

I close with these wise words from Owen Feltham: “The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. These may, for the most part, be summed in these two – common sense and perseverance.” Most of us have common sense and perseverance, so use them to do something incredible, doing the best you can with what you’ve got.

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[i] Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, published by Little, Brown and Company on November 18, 2008

[ii] Nyad:

• Production Companies: Black Bear
• Directors: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
• Screenwriters: Diana Nyad and Julia Cox
• Starring: Annette Benning, Jodie Foster and Anne Marie Kempf
• Release date: November 3, 2023

[iii] The Burial:

• Production Companies: Amazon Studios, Bobby Shriver, and Double Nickel Entertainment
• Director: Maggie Betts
• Screenwriters: Doug Wright, Maggie Betts, and Jonathan Harr
• Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jurnee Smollett
• Release date: October 13, 2023

[iv] Rustin:

• Production Company: High Ground Productions
• Director: George C. Wolfe
• Screenwriters: Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black
• Starring: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, and Glynn Turman
• Release date: November 17, 2023