One clear action, then give it time. That combination, decisive movement and stubborn patience will get you further than talent ever did.

I left school knowing one thing: I’d underperformed. I’d spent more time being “too cool for school” than actually learning, and the future I wanted was out of reach. Sitting in the stony shade of a tall building in downtown Johannesburg, the truth crept in like cold into bone.

“So,” I asked myself, staring ahead, “what are you going to do now?”
Part of me was angry, part numb. Another part, call him the Inner Runner, answered: “Make a plan.”

I knew Wits took a limited number of mature-age students each year. I also knew my chances would be better with a National Diploma. The Inner Runner smiled, then turned into the Inner Madman—arms waving: “Bide your time with a diploma. Any college will take you. If not now, when? Get up and register for Cost Accounting, like now.”

So I did. That was my first deliberate step toward redemption. I enrolled for a National Diploma. When the time came to apply to Wits, I was accepted. I wasn’t quick. I struggled. But I sat in those lecture rooms. I worked. I fought to stay. Against the odds, I graduated.

Law and Accounting were my majors, but the real degree was self-knowledge: a combination of action and patience. The decision I took in that cold sliver of shade changed my trajectory, not overnight, but step by step.

“Not too shabby, Poepsticks,” said the Inner Student as we graduated. “You got off your backside. You were patient. You did the work.”

And then the Inner Runner piped up again: “Now look at you—soft around the edges from all that sitting and reading. Think you’re good enough for the Comrades Marathon?”

That’s a story for another day. For now, this one’s simple: take one clear action, then give it enough time to work. That combination, decisive movement and stubborn patience, will get you further than talent ever did.