"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again".
Even if it is a seemingly tired-out maxim, it can still say a lot about human ambition. We can apply it to events in history that changed the world. Thomas Edison found 10,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb work, but there was the experiment after those frustrations of trial and error that culminated in success. Olympic athletes by necessity live by this motto, because being good at one stage is never enough. Indeed, for them, "Practice makes perfect".
"Practice makes perfect".
I can apply this same idea to my own life as a student and as at least an amateur writer. I will admit that I am not an absolutely approachable poet or article writer. It's just that I am much better at doing this than I am at doing math. In that there is a matter of ability; its either there or it's not. But what does matter is what you do with it, and how you strengthen your ability, to perfect your skill.
Perfection doesn't come naturally; I don't believe that any one person is "perfect", one way or the other. But we can strive towards that perfection, even if we know we won't make it. I know that if I practice long enough and with concentration, I know that I can get closer to that lofty goal. But don't get me wrong on that: I can practice math all I want, but that doesn't mean that I have an honest passion for it.
That's another idea about progress. If you have the drive to achieve a goal, to me, that means that there is a purpose, a passion, inside you somewhere deep. If one has a passion for politics, he becomes involved with other people and diagnoses his own brand of leadership. If one has a passion for writing, he studies how other writers have conveyed their ideas; and he finds his own writing style. And if one has a passion for fixing cars (and eventually building them), he learns the trade of working with getting his hand greasy; and he finally attains the knowledge to be his own best. In all of these, it is pointless to really compare your talent to someone else's. It's what you do with your ability in the end that counts towards your worth. No one person is the same.
But what can be the overall point to this? The definite idea is that persistence is necessary. A will and a drive is essential. And while some talent may need to be present in the body at birth, it remains useless until it undergoes that change. There is a stirring in the muscles, a stimulation of the mind, an invigoration of passion. Edison must've felt it. I would like to believe that I have felt it too.
