I just started a new job a few weeks ago. Nothing special about that, except that the company I now work for was started six years ago by two 17 year-olds. Now that’s both amazing and depressing.

Here I am, almost 30 and have not achieved anywhere near the business success that they have. Of course, I haven’t tried either. So, on the one hand, it’s violently depressing that 17 year-olds can be more successful at business in the first 17 years of their lives than I have been in my first 30. And on the other hand, it’s quite inspiring. If they can do it, I can do it, too.

I remember a high school teacher that once told my class that we had to be realistic in what we hoped to achieve out in the real world. He was trying to level-set our expectations—to strip out some of that adolescent idealism, but thinking back, his statement was counter-productive. Instead of focusing on what we could not achieve, he should have taught us how we could achieve great things.

And that’s where I’m at. I’ve finally learned how to accomplish great things because I have developed the discipline to accomplish many small things. This realization has been a long time coming, but I very much feel that I can accomplish any goal I set and with every goal I accomplish, the realm of possibility expands.

So, to answer my own question: I get inspiration from where I’ve been and where I’m going. Stories about successful people just remind me that anything, taken one step at a time, is possible.