Every writer has all of them. 26 in most Western languages.

But no writer knows all the words.

That’s the gap where creativity, effort and possibility lie–between the universal letters and the unlimited words. This is an analogy for arenas as diverse as sports and commerce.

Sometimes, we work on a project where our competitors have access to more letters than we do. It’s unlikely you’ll win that competition.

But if you start out with the same letters as everyone else, don’t spend a lot of time admiring your letters. It’s the words that matter.