Can Beats Might Every Time

When Everything Feels Impossible

There’s this moment when stress hits—you know the one. Your to-do list stretches longer than your patience, deadlines loom like storm clouds, and suddenly everything feels insurmountable. Last winter, after a brutal work week, I stood in my kitchen, the cold tile chilling my feet through my socks, staring at dishes piled high from three days of takeout containers, laundry overflowing because the washer had been broken for a week, and my phone buzzing relentlessly with emails I didn’t have the mental energy to read. The sheer volume of what needed doing made it impossible to start anything at all. I must have stood there for ten minutes, paralyzed by the choice between dirty dishes and dirty clothes, while my stress multiplied with each passing moment and the weight of it all pressed down on my chest. That’s when a simple truth hit me, one that John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, understood deeply: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” In that cluttered kitchen, I couldn’t tackle everything, but I could wash one plate. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is start exactly where we are.

The Limitation Trap

Wooden’s words cut straight through the mental fog that stress creates. We get so fixated on everything we can’t control—the impossible deadlines, other people’s expectations, the perfect solutions we don’t have—that we forget about the very real power sitting right in front of us. It’s like having a flashlight in your hand while panicking about being lost in the dark. Wooden spent decades coaching young athletes who often felt overwhelmed by the enormity of becoming champions. He taught them that championship games aren’t won by dwelling on missed shots or superior opponents, but by focusing completely on the next play, the next decision, the next moment of possibility. Wooden understood something most of us forget when we’re overwhelmed—that our power lives in the present moment, not in our ability to control every outcome.

Small Steps, Big Impact

Vera Wang embodied this principle when she entered fashion design at age 40. She couldn’t change the fact that she was considered “too old” for the industry, couldn’t control the skepticism she faced, and couldn’t instantly erase her lack of formal design training. But she could focus on what she could do: create one beautiful dress at a time. Instead of letting her perceived limitations stop her, she channeled her experience as a former Vogue editor and her understanding of what women actually wanted to wear. That first wedding dress she designed for herself became the foundation of a fashion empire. Wang often says she succeeded not despite starting later, but because she stopped focusing on what she couldn’t control and poured everything into what she could. You don’t need to design wedding gowns to apply the same principle—whatever challenge you’re facing, focusing on one concrete step beats waiting for perfect conditions.

Your Next Move

When stress hits, your power lives in small, immediate actions you can take right now. Instead of asking “How will I ever get all this done?” try “What can I do in the next ten minutes?” Clear your desk, send that email you’ve been avoiding, or write down three things you’re grateful for—these small steps build the momentum that dissolves paralysis. Last winter, washing one plate broke my kitchen standoff completely. You can’t fix everything today, but you can drink a glass of water, take three deep breaths, or organize that one drawer that’s been bugging you. Today, pick one nagging task—send that text, tidy a shelf, or acknowledge three things you accomplished yesterday that you forgot to celebrate—and do it in the next hour. These aren’t compromises or consolation prizes; they’re the foundation of real change, proving to yourself that you can handle whatever life throws at you, one manageable step at a time.

Power in the Present

There’s a beautiful irony in how dropping perfectionism actually unlocks more progress than demanding it ever could. Wooden’s players didn’t win championships by focusing on championship pressure; they won by perfecting their practice, one drill at a time. Your power doesn’t live in your ability to control every outcome—it lives in your willingness to take the next right step with whatever you have right now. Don’t wait for the stress to disappear before you begin living fully. Start where you are, build your evidence of strength, and watch how one small step leads to another.