We do what we have to do to get by.

History is filled with examples of people who unexpectedly triumphed while living that mantra—perhaps none so unlikely as Hessie Donahue.

As a young girl growing up in Worcester, Mass., Hessie loved going to boxing matches with her father. So maybe it was inevitable that when boxing instructor Charles Converse came to town in 1891, the 18-year-old would fall for him. They soon married and Charles opened a local boxing school.

Since she knew the sport well, her husband frequently asked Hessie to check out the boxers’ moves to ensure they weren’t making any mistakes. And sometimes, she’d even don the gloves and spar with Charles. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. At nearly six feet tall and about 160 pounds, Hessie could handle herself.

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We’re creatures of excess. As soon as we find out something is good for us, we seem to take it to extremes. Several years ago, researchers decided people were eating too much fat. So manufacturers started to produce a lot of fat-free products. But to make up for the missing fat, they added a lot more sugar. And no one seemed to get thinner.

You wouldn’t think you could get too carried away about something as healthy as positive thinking. But some people do. They get so carried away with the importance of positive thinking that they begin to blame themselves and others anytime something bad happens to them. Obviously, if something bad has happened, it’s because someone had a rogue negative thought.

Well … poppycock!

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“I can’t go any farther,” reporter Hallie Martin tells former rodeo star Sonny Steele in the film The Electric Horseman.

“Oh, sure you can,” Sonny says as the pair trudge through the mountains. “I know people who go through stuff. I knew a guy misjudged a Brahma once, put his rib through his right lung. Guy could hardly breathe—he still got up and rode the rankest mare there.”

“I will never understand,” Hallie gasps, “why you find that kind of behavior admirable.”

“Gets you up the hill,” Sonny says.

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What’s wrong with me? Am I crazy? Am I crazy? Am I crazy?

That’s been the lament of my week. How about you? Football historians will also recognize it as one of the most famous game calls in history.

In the 1920s, Graham McNamee became the world’s first broadcasting superstar, the first sports color commentator, the guy who covered everything from the play-by-play of the World Series to political conventions to Charles Lindbergh’s arrival in back New York after his transatlantic flight. But perhaps his most famous on-air moment came while calling the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, 1929.

The University of California Golden Bears were facing off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets with the National Championship on the line. And the nation was listening. The teams were in a scoreless tie in the second when Tech running back Stumpy Thomason fumbled on his own 36. California center Roy Reigels, in on defense, recovered on the 30. All he had to do was fall on the ball, and the Golden Bears were within scoring range. But Riegels was determined to be the hero.

He scooped up the ball … and started to run … in the wrong direction.

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Health issues prove mountainous for many people around the world, and the quality and availability of health care varies from culture to culture. In the United States and some other modern industrialized nations, it’s become common for many patients to combine Western medicine with alternative, herbal, and traditional practices and remedies. The problem: Not all combinations prove to be healthy blends.

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Many naval officers did extraordinary things during World War II, including Iowan Thomas Heggen who served aboard the USS Virgo. But Heggen’s lasting contribution didn’t occur in the heat of battle. It happened in the quiet of his quarters as the 26-year-old penned his only novel, Mister Roberts.

Written at sea during 1944, the war classic was published in 1946, became an instant hit, and was later adapted into a Tony Award–winning play, an Oscar-winning film, a telefilm, and even a short-lived 1960s TV series.

Since the war had ended by the time his book rolled off the presses, Heggen’s publishers expected him to make public appearances to promote his work. Fighting the enemy in the Pacific Theater was one thing. But the shy Iowan was terrified at the thought of … gasp! … public speaking.

In The Almanac of American Letters, Randy F. Nelson recounts Heggen’s appearance at a formal luncheon in New York. Overwhelmed with stage fright, he stood speechless at the microphone. Finally, someone seated nearby whispered, “Perhaps you can tell us how you wrote your book.”

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As Forrest Gump once proclaimed, “Stupid is as stupid does.” By that measure, I haven’t been demonstrating a lot of smarts lately—and it’s not the first time.

When I was about two, Mom told me it was a bad idea to put my hand on a hot burner. I decided to see for myself. When I was about nine, I got excited and started jumping up and down on a folding chair. It folded. Time after time I’ve bitten off more than I could chew, burned the candle at both ends, thrown caution to the wind, and failed to use my head. Stupid is as stupid does.

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Carlos certainly seemed powerless. Two armed men had invaded his home. He had no weapon. He had no avenue of escape. He had a terrified six-year-old girl in tow.

Oh yeah … and Carlos was seven.

But the California youngster simply did what the Stoic philosopher Epictetus advised in the first century. “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

He grabbed a phone and his little sister, hid in the bathroom, and called 911. By the time the gunmen—who’d broken in and threatened to kill their parents—found the children, police were on their way. When the home invaders realized Carlos had called for help, they fled.

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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about decision-making. Make good decisions, take small but persistent steps in the right direction, and you can achieve amazing things. Make poor decisions, and your mountains seem to grow taller and more insurmountable each day.

Since the start of the year, I’ve been making poor decisions. Actually it’s more accurate to say I’ve been postponing decisions. But making no decision is really making a decision to do nothing—and that’s usually a poor choice. So my mountains have begun to seem … immovable.

Fortunately, those mountains are uniquely mine, and the only person my idleness has hurt is me. Now that I’ve chosen to do something, I can simply move forward with no real harm done.

But what if other lives were in the balance? What if your failure to act could cause irreparable harm?

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Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Scratch that. Are you as smart as a preschooler?

What’s the one thing most preschoolers do that may give them an intellectual boost? They take long afternoon naps.

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