I can achieve anything I set my mind to.

Setting the mind is the part that gets skipped in the telling. Most things that never happened were not defeated by difficulty; they were never actually decided on. The form sat on the kitchen table for eleven days, moved twice, filled in never.

Deciding is a real act with a time and a place. Once it has happened, capability tends to show up looking far more ordinary than expected — an afternoon, a phone call, a slightly awkward email.