Do the Impossible
Awesomeness is literally about doing the impossible. When someone does something awesome, you are bewildered because you cannot conceive of how they were able to do it. You are in awe. If you can do the impossible, you can be awesome.
What is Impossible?
Impossibility is a declaration of inability. It is a personal resolution of a limit, such that the individual will no longer attempt to break the limit. It is acceptance and through acceptance, it becomes a fact. When one believes something to be impossible, he stops fighting.
The impossible may be shared through commonality (such as traveling faster than the speed of light), but it remains personal in nature. The impossible for one may not be the impossible for another. It is a matter of ability and defiance.
There are three things required to act:
- 1. You must know how to perform the action
- 2. You must have the resources required for the action
- 3. The environment must allow for you to do the action
If you do not meet these three prerequisites, you cannot perform the action. It is impossible. It doesn’t mean that you will never be able to do the action. It just means you do not currently have the capabilities.
I cannot run 10 miles because I do not have the endurance. Under the current conditions, it is impossible. It does not mean that I will never be able to do it. If I want to run 10 miles, then the current conditions need to change (e.g. I need to increase my endurance).
Some Say “I Can Do It If I Wanted To…”
This is a funny (yet common) saying because most people use it to make something awesome (unexplainable) into something less awesome (by explaining it). The paradox to the statement lies in “if I wanted to”. In most cases, the individual does not want to do the action (or do the work that will enable him to perform the action), so it remains impossible.
If a person wanted to, he would be willing to do what is necessary to gain the ability (including sacrifice). He would be chasing the limit and would not have accepted, so he would not believe it is impossible. It is not a limit while you are still trying. It is only impossible when you stop trying.
Defining something as impossible is useful for rational decision making. Many things in life are uncertain, so we need to spend resources to test things and discover the results. If we accept something as impossible, then we no longer devote resources to a lost cause and can move on. If you don’t want to move on, it is not yet impossible.
Smile When Someone Says “You Can’t Do That!”
This is another common saying, but why do people say this? Most often people will say this to stop you from doing something that they believe you should not do. It is not that you ought not do it, but you should not be able to do it. They are imposing their limits (what they believe to be impossible) upon you.
Though people say “you can’t do that”, you may be able to do the impossible. It is not necessarily your reality or a reflection of what is possible. It is defiance because you are doing something you shouldn’t be able to do. You shouldn’t be able to do it because it is impossible to them.
When you go ahead and do it, they stand in awe because you are doing something you shouldn’t be able to do. You have broken the limit and done the impossible. If you want it, don’t let the impossible stop you. Do it anyways.
yo. dude,i really like your posts. you’re an inspiration to me.
something i noticed though, man, you are sound kinda condesending or depressed. are you trying to convey motivation to your readers or just demonstrating to yourself that everything will be achievable? also, it would be great if you can say more about your personal experiences. it makes it more reader friendly. later man
Thanks for the input. I’ll try to relate more of myself in future posts. Not being able to express who I am has been a common theme in my conversations with people over the years. If you have advice on that, it would be appreciated.
Sometimes I get depressed. I try to deal with it as best as I can. When I wrote the “purposing productivity” post, I was feeling particularly down. But I’m hopeful for my future.
As for the tone of my posts, I am trying to figure things out about my life. I don’t mean to be condescending because I’m not really talking to anyone in particular. I also tend to take what I know for granted, so I leave out details that others may not be aware of (like personal stories).
Thanks again for the support and for the honest feedback to my posts.
thumbs up. esp the smile when someone tells you, you can’t do it.
Thanks. I always appreciate the support from you and turtle484
Hey Daryl,
Thanks very much for this post, and for your writing and free sharing of productivity tools in general. It is inspirational.
I too, came to the same conclusion re: when people tell you you can’t do something what’s really going on. Oftentimes I think it is simply because it is not part of their worldview in terms of possibility — literally, it is impossible to them. Other times, it’s because they might have ulterior motives and not actually want you to accomplish something because it may affect them negatively in some way.
What I’m struggling with now is the proper internal motivations for just doing it anyway. Previously in life I stuck firmly to spite — Oh yeah? Well I’ll show you… — as a motivation, but I’m questioning now whether that is healthy because oftentimes people who tell you you can’t do something have no ill will toward you. As you point out, oftentimes they tell you this because they think you *should* not do something because it will be of harm to you (e.g. – you could fail) — in other words, they do it out of concern for you.
It took me some significant self-reflection to come to this realization about other people, however. If you ever have the time and care to share (either online or offline via e-mail) I’d be interested to hear how you came to this realization about others and what is possible vs. impossible.
In any case, I wanted to thank you for providing me with at least a way to react to people who tell me I can’t do something (smile). The question is what is the appropriate (and healthy) internal motivation behind the smile…
Take care,
-Josh-
Thanks for sharing. I agree with you that doing things just to prove others wrong is probably unhealthy. I admit that I probably act that way sometimes because I am egotistical.
A good book that I recently read was Emergency by Neil Strauss (author of The Game). A couple of things he pointed out were: (1) things are much more fragile than we think and (2) people with good intentions often do the worst things (because they think anything they do is good).
So if you can test something out without serious risk to yourself, why not try and see if it is indeed impossible? Also, even though people may have good intentions for you, it doesn’t mean that they are right.
A reason why I’ve been smiling lately is because I’ve been showing people some puzzles. They say it’s impossible, but then I share the answer with them.
Wow. Someone has finally written in words something I had noticed before but had not fully verbalized or defined. I am a strong believer in encouraging others. Your simple yet insightful breakdown is a good formula to help teach people how to encourage someone who feels stuck. Break it down into some manageable parts. My piano teacher taught me to keep bringing it down into either into a smaller number of notes (just the left or right hand alone) or to play it slower OR both until you could accomplish a small part. Practice the small parts till you get those right and then build back in the other parts.
Enjoying reading your insights. Keep up the good work. Thanks
People who need encouraging are both adults and children. Children who are having a hard time accomplishing something like learning math or reading comprehensive or anger management. Adults who have been worn down by energy forces opposing their method of vision or problem solving. Significant differences in personality or cultural or gender from the majority of others in their environment. This could be either work or family. Being the different one, or odd man out, can be very exhausting. But it can also be very rewarding, when you know your special way of thinking or solving or creating has brought something into to existence that is uniquely affected by your influence.
YOU ARE AND INSPIRATION AND MY NEW HERO!!
your words are what we all see on a daily basis but few of us are able to define the real meaning to them. And on a personal note i told a family member i wanted to me a Doctor she literally said” don’t bother”, i have one year until i graduate…with my degree, and guess what…im smiling
Wow, thanks.
I wish you the best of luck with this upcoming year, although I’m sure you make enough of your own luck already.