White Men Can’t Jump is definitely a basketball movie. Which means it’s SO not up my alley. I told the story on the podcast of how when I (Carla) was in the eighth grade, I was the second-tallest kid in my class, which meant just one thing: the basketball team wanted ME. Ohhh, how little they knew. My height meant nothing. I was so uncoordinated, so afraid of having a giant orange orb thrown in my face, so uninterested in how to successfully throw this orange orb into a basket hanging ten feet off the ground. Nothing about basketball appealed to me. Somehow, the basketball coach seemed convinced he could mold me into someone who had none of these problems. But he was very wrong.
Even though basketball and I don’t particularly get along, I didn’t dislike White Men Can’t Jump. Rosie Perez as Gloria is a gem. Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes have good chemistry (off the court, anyway – I tuned out for any on-court scenes). And the money lessons abound.
One of the more interesting topics we touched on in the podcast is the question of when to give up on a risky dream like writing, acting, sports, or even just starting your own small business. All these endeavors have a high likelihood of failure. But if you can make it, they also have a great chance of making you happy. In the movie, both Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes love playing basketball and want to make a living off of it, avoiding the grind of a normal job. And both characters struggle with when to give up that lifestyle and accept the fact that they should try another, more traditional approach to making money.
Though not about basketball specifically – this is a question many people face in life: When do I hang it up? When do I accept defeat and try my hand at something new?
The answer depends on how you approach trying to reach your dreams. Some dreams require you to go all in – they give you virtually no time to do anything else, let alone hold down a full-time job. The best example that comes to mind is being an Olympic gymnast. This one’s unique because it requires you to do it at a very young age and dedicate virtually all your time to it. Even when you’re resting, it’s intentional resting with specific cool-down and healing routines. You can’t just train for a few hours a day. Or – you can – but you will eliminate any shot at actually reaching the Olympics because there are others practicing nearly all day every day.
But goals like this are outliers. You can give yourself a real chance at achieving many other long-shot dreams by committing just a few hours a day to your goal. In other words: you can hold down a full-time job while also pursuing your dream on the side. Dreams that fit within this category would include things like writing, music, film-making, acting, fashion design, art, or starting a small business.
Let’s say you want to be a writer. You start with reading. Reading examples of other excellent books by authors you would like to emulate and reading advice on how to be a better writer. And then, of course, you write. You write a lot. You write every day. You practice choosing words that sound beautiful when strung together and that hit hard and keep the reader moving at a fast clip through your prose. You practice editing and ruthlessly cutting the chaff. And then you do all that again. Every day.
Is it going to be really tough to motivate yourself to sit down at your keyboard when you’ve been working at a full-time job all day? You bet! Will there be days – many days – when you just flat don’t want to touch your project? Oh yeah. Will you sometimes look back at your work and think it’s total bunk and that no one should ever let you put pen to paper unless it’s to write a grocery list? 1,000% yes.
But is that the struggle that every writer goes through and should you keep pushing if you enjoy the process and want to improve? Also 1,000% yes.
Anyone considering chasing a dream that requires focused, consistent work while also needing to support themselves by holding down a “real” job should have no illusions. It will be difficult. It will require saying no to other things you enjoy, maybe even sleep. It takes commitment at a level that most people don’t have.
That may sound like bad news. But it’s also good news in a different light. If you can find it within yourself to truly commit to something – you’ve already beaten a substantial chunk of your competition. According to one article I read, over 97% of novels that get started are never finished. You can make it to the top 3% just by finishing! And your odds of getting published do … of course … go up quite substantially if you have an actual finished product that someone could sit down and read.
I imagine the same must be true for all other types of creative endeavors. How many people think: Oh, I could write a song if I just tried. But never make the effort to actually sit down at their keyboard or with a guitar and tinker out a melody. How many people think: Oh, I’d love to try acting, but never sign up at their local theater to take some classes or try out for the next production of Death of a Salesman?
You don’t need a survey to tell you the answer to these questions because you’re a person alive in this world and you already know. It’s damn near everybody. So if you want something, you have to START. That is the stumbling block for the vast majority of folks. Clear it, and you’re already on a whole other playing field. Keep clearing the other hurdles of being tired and feeling like an imposter, and you’ve leveled up again. Hold onto that confidence and let it motivate you to keep clearing more hurdles. Overcome your shyness and reach out to others for critique on your work or input, and you’ve beaten yet another level. And on and on.
And you can do all this while not risking destitution if you can find the tenacity to keep working a less risky job to cover your basic living expenses. So if you’re someone deeply committed enough to your dream to take on these challenges – the answer to the deep question of when to hang it up can easily be: never. Keep working at the thing you love. Hone your craft. Dig deep and produce something you’re proud to contribute to the world.
Taking it back to White Men Can’t Jump, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson’s characters sometimes act as though they’re in an Olympic gymnast scenario – they want to “ball” full-time and hate the idea of having to work other jobs. And yeah – life is more fun when you get to do nothing but what you love all the time. But the reality of hungry bellies and the need for a stable place to live won’t ever go away. Their characters need to embrace that, find something that puts food on the table, and then allocate a realistic sum of time and money to their “basketball budget.” They can still spend money they can afford to lose by gambling on the courts, without sacrificing their financial stability. They can still use time they can afford to be away from their other jobs and their families practicing their skills and playing for money.
Put another way: it’s not an either-or situation for them. They can enjoy playing basketball for money as long as they cover their other needs in a more reliable way. And that’s the situation for most of us, too. We can chase big dreams while working other, stabler jobs in the meantime.
It’s harder than crashing on the couch every night and enjoying some TV. But it’s also more rewarding, and it gives you a shot at a more fulfilling, happier life.