It Used To Be Impossible

Something that is amazing about the world we live in today is how something that used to be impossible, or science fiction, is now a reality. Nights were lit by candles until Thomas Edison introduced electric lightbulbs to the world. Letters had to be physically mailed across the world to be read by someone else until the invention of the fax machine, and then improved further through email. Even in our pockets we have devices that operate with touchscreens, which were futuristic inventions in fantasy worlds.

But this isn’t just true for technology, it’s also true for human physiology. As a former Division 1 college athlete, my favorite example of this is Roger Bannister. For years runners were trying to accomplish the incredible feat of running a mile in under 4 minutes. Everyone who tried failed, and scientists even concluded that biologically human hearts were incapable of sustaining such demand. That is until May 6, 1954., Roger Bannister broke the barrier and completely changed the game. Within 13 months, 4 other runners also broke the impossible 4 minute mile barrier.

The limitation in life isn’t the physical or technological characteristics of things, it’s our belief of what’s possible. We conclude that things are impossible from our current level of understanding, but knowing how incomplete that is, it’s foolish to think that we’re right. 

Given what we understand about the properties of physical matter, it seems impossible to be able to teleport. But given what we knew about physics, we also thought that planes would be too heavy to fly… Or given the way human anatomy works to breathe in air, it seems impossible for humans to to breathe underwater. But animals like frogs can do both, so is it really impossible?

Tthinking something can’t be done keeps you from even trying to do it. And that’s the real limitation - the belief that it's impossible. 

I’m giving pioneering and innovative examples, but the same principles are true when you scale them down to your life. Is it really impossible to get that promotion, look as good as you did in college, convince that dream client to work with you, or live overseas? Of course not! Other people have done it, so why can’t you?

A renewed belief about what’s possible gives you a reason to go for it. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s only those who try for something that achieve it. What is guaranteed is that you won’t get what you want if you don’t try.