Growing up, my parents told me, just like my kids, that anything was possible. The world was my oyster, and I could be anything so long as I could dream of it. But slowly, that began to change as I grew older. I would hear things like, you can’t make money playing video games and if you don’t go to college you will never be able to get a good job. My parents were telling me that while I can indeed do anything, the safety and security of a good and a pension were more important than chasing dreams and trying to accomplish the impossible. Now, I don’t want this article to sound like I blame them or that I think it was wrong. In fact, I think I’m inclined to agree with them in most cases. Most people grow up hearing the same things that I did, chase your dreams, shoot for the stars, anything is possible.
But there is a very three very specific reasons most people never accomplish their dreams. First, they don’t truly believe that they can. Seeds of doubt get sown when people say things like, there are only a couple (insert dream) in the world, are you sure that is what you want to do? Second, because deep down they have doubts about whether or not they can even accomplish their goal, they do not have the will to try or if they do try, they do not put their all into their goal. Finally, they are not coming from a place of desperation and don’t feel like they must meet their goal or have some disastrous consequences. All three of these elements must be present if anyone wants to accomplish the impossible.
I Can!
You must believe that you can accomplish your goal if you ever want to accomplish it. I mean, if you don’t believe that you can accomplish your goal, why try? If someone does feel they can’t accomplish their goal but want to try anyways, I would tell them to find a new goal because they will never accomplish it unless they believe it themselves. It is one thing for others to not believe in you, that can be overcome, but if you don’t believe in yourself, then there is no hope that you will ever accomplish what you set out to do. If you want to accomplish the impossible, you must have a deeply held conviction that what you are trying to do is possible and that you are the one that can do it. Lying to yourself and trying to convince yourself that you can is not enough.
You must be a true believer and be able to stand up to any adversity or challenges that come because they will come. People will try to be supportive by saying, " I believe you can do anything you set your mind to, " but why don’t you wait until after you’ve been to college or after you have a reliable backup plan? This advice seems perfectly logical to most people, but if you truly believed that you could accomplish your impossible goal, why would you need a backup plan? The answer is, you wouldn’t. These doubts being sown by people that are supposed to believe in you can be hurtful and leave you feeling isolated and lonely. I have talked to several millionaires and entrepreneurs and every single one of them will tell you, it’s lonely at the top and it’s even lonelier on the way to the top. So you absolutely must have an unshakable belief in yourself and trust that you CAN accomplish your impossible dreams.
I WILL!
Knowing that you can do something is not the same as being willing to do something. Success takes sacrifice. Accomplishing the impossible takes sacrifice. Success and accomplishing the impossible require action. If you aren’t prepared to take action, then you will never accomplish anything. To accomplish anything, much less the impossible, you must do the thing that you aspire to. If you want to run a multi-million dollar company, you have to start a business. If you want to run a marathon, you have to take the first steps. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what you are attempting to accomplish, you have to take the first steps. However, understanding that you can accomplish something and knowing that you must start somewhere is simply not enough to accomplish the impossible.
I MUST!
When attempting to accomplish the impossible, you must not give yourself any other option. Having a backup plan gives you an out. It makes it so you have options other than success. The most successful people give themselves no choice other than success. There is a reason why people often become successful from positions of pure desperation more often than positions of comfort. To accomplish the impossible, you have to want to meet your goal like you need to breathe. If you are being choked, you will fight for your life. When you can’t breathe, you will find a strength you never knew you had and fight harder than you ever have to take your next breath. To accomplish the impossible, you must fight for your goal like your life depends on it. You must make that goal your sole focus and do everything within your power to make that happen. You cannot approach lofty goals with an attitude that is lackadaisical and expect to succeed. Further, if you give yourself an out, you will be more likely to take that out and never accomplish your goal. You must have the mental fortitude to avoid compromising and approach your goal in a desperate manner.
When trying to accomplish the impossible, many people will doubt you. Others will tell you that your goal is impossible. The fact is, no goal is impossible. Many people thought that flight was impossible until the Wright brothers accomplished the impossible and proved that air travel was possible. Today, people don’t hesitate to hop on an airplane and fly around the world when only a little over 100 years ago, all but two people thought it was impossible. If the Wright brothers had paid attention to their detractors and followed the status quo, the United States would not have become one of the prominent powers in the world. All of the greatest people throughout history who accomplished the impossible did so because they believed they could accomplish their goal, then worked tirelessly and single-mindedly at their goal, finally, while working toward their goal, they approach it from a position of desperation and believed that they must accomplish their goal. If you want to accomplish the impossible, or any other goal, remember that YOU CAN, YOU WILL, AND YOU MUST.