About this phrase
“Whatever It Takes” is determination without limits — the declaration that the outcome will be achieved regardless of the cost. In morse it creates a three-word encoding that works well on a sports or fitness cuff.
Cultural context
The phrase sits at the intersection of athletic, entrepreneurial, and recovery cultures — it appears on gym walls, in startup manifestos, in cancer treatment journals, and in military training mottos. The Imagine Dragons song 'Whatever It Takes' (2017) brought the phrase to a mainstream audience, framing relentless self-determination as a battle against internal limitation. The phrase acknowledges that the path will be hard — 'whatever it takes' is said precisely because the cost is real — making it more honest than simple positivity affirmations.
When to gift this phrase
For anyone embarking on or mid-way through a genuinely demanding pursuit: athletic competition, medical treatment, significant business risk, or any high-stakes goal with visible obstacles.
When this phrase is the wrong fit
Avoid for situations where relentless determination is not the right response — some situations call for letting go, and 'whatever it takes' can reinforce harmful persistence in the wrong contexts.
Variations you might prefer
- at any cost
- by any means
- no price too high
How the morse encodes
'WHATEVER IT TAKES' is fifteen letters. WHATEVER: W (dit-dah-dah), H (dit-dit-dit-dit), A (dit-dah), T (dah), E (dit), V (dit-dit-dit-dah), E (dit), R (dit-dah-dit) — eight characters traversing a wide range of morse rhythms, from the four-dot H to the single-dash T to the three-dot-one-dash V.
Most common use cases
- Athlete competition piece
- Business goal achievement bracelet
- Medical treatment endurance piece
- Ambitious goal-setting gift
Letter-by-letter breakdown
Here is “Whatever It Takes” spelled out one character at a time, so you can copy it by hand, check a tattoo stencil, or space the beads on a bracelet correctly:
| Letter | Morse |
|---|---|
| W | .-- |
| H | .... |
| A | .- |
| T | - |
| E | . |
| V | ...- |
| E | . |
| R | .-. |
| ␣ | / |
| I | .. |
| T | - |
| ␣ | / |
| T | - |
| A | .- |
| K | -.- |
| E | . |
| S | ... |
A single space between letters and a slash (/) between words keeps the pattern readable — the most common mistake in engraved and tattooed morse is running the letters together with no gaps.
The three-symbol word that can vanish
IT is the smallest thing on the piece — .. -, three symbols — and it carries two of the phrase's spacing risks by itself. Close the gap between its own two letters and .. plus - becomes ..-, a U: the word is gone, swapped for one character. Let the word gap after it shrink instead and its T fuses with the T that opens TAKES, two lone dashes turning into --, an M, so the line reads I M AKES. Neither failure touches the pattern; both are spacing. The gap before TAKES has to be the widest space on the whole piece — seven dot-widths against three between letters — and visibly so.
Twenty-one dots against eleven dashes
For a phrase about paying whatever a goal costs, the encoding is surprisingly light. Twenty-one of the thirty-two symbols are dots, close to two dots for every dash, and the dot-runs are the first thing the eye finds: H is four dots in a row, ....; S ends the phrase on three, ...; V stacks three before its dash. In beads that means small round shapes dominate and the piece reads fine and busy rather than bold. If you want the weight to match the sentiment, the lever is material rather than pattern — oversize the eleven dashes, or cut them in a contrasting metal, and they become deliberate accents in a field of dots.
Nineteen, three, ten — a cuff that cannot be centred
WHATEVER is nineteen symbols, IT is three, TAKES is ten. Nearly two-thirds of the run is the first word, which rules out any layout built on three even blocks. On a cuff, give WHATEVER the outer curve of the wrist where there is most metal, and let IT TAKES — thirteen symbols across its word gap — take the tighter inner run. For a two-line bar, WHATEVER on top against IT TAKES beneath gives nineteen versus thirteen, near enough to look intentional. The one rule: never break the three symbols of IT across a line, a clasp or a bend, because a split there costs the reader the entire word.
Buy "Whatever It Takes" in morse
Custom-phrase morse jewelry and prints from independent sellers. Send them this page and they'll match the layout above.
Turn it into something physical
This phrase fits a range of keepsake formats:
- Bracelet mockup — if the phrase is short enough (32 morse symbols here).
- Necklace mockup — best for longer phrases.
- Ring design — only works if the phrase is under about 10 morse symbols.
- Tattoo designer — exports an SVG in three layouts and three weights.
Related phrases
- Hope — .... --- .--. .
- Brave — -... .-. .- ...- .
- Faith — ..-. .- .. - ....
- Make It Count — -- .- -.- . / .. - / -.-. --- ..- -. -
- Make It Happen — -- .- -.- . / .. - / .... .- .--. .--. .…
- Do It Afraid — -.. --- / .. - / .- ..-. .-. .- .. -..
Frequently asked questions
What is "Whatever It Takes" in morse code?
"Whatever It Takes" in international morse code is .-- .... .- - . ...- . .-. / .. - / - .- -.- . ....
How long does this phrase take to send?
At 15 WPM this phrase takes about 4 seconds to transmit. You can hear it at any speed between 5 and 40 WPM by pressing Play above.
Can I put "Whatever It Takes" on a bracelet or necklace?
Yes — use our bracelet or necklace mockup tool to preview how it will look as beads, then screenshot and send to a jeweler or an Etsy seller specializing in morse pieces.
How many dots and dashes are in Whatever It Takes?
Thirty-two symbols across fifteen letters: twenty-one dots and eleven dashes. WHATEVER is nineteen of those symbols, IT is three and TAKES is ten.
Why do the two T's between IT and TAKES matter?
IT ends on a T and TAKES begins on one, so two lone dashes sit back to back with only the word gap between them. If that gap is too narrow they merge into dash-dash, which is the letter M, and the phrase reads I M AKES.
Is Whatever It Takes too long for a bracelet?
Not for a cuff or a two-line bar, which is where thirty-two symbols and two word gaps sit best. On a single thin chain the nineteen-symbol WHATEVER is the constraint, so size the beads down rather than shortening the phrase.