You Can Do "Impossible" Things!

In 1939, a student named George Dantzig arrived late to his math class due to his work as a janitor at the school. The room was empty, but there were two detailed math problems written on the board, so he copied them down thinking they had to be homework.

For some reason, these were especially difficult, and it took him several days to solve the problems. When he turned them in, he thought he was handing in a late assignment. He apologized to the professor, who barely even looked up to acknowledge him. George was considered an unremarkable student, and few people in class ever paid attention to him. He seemed destined to a life of fading into the background.

Two weeks later, there was a knock at his door. George opened it to find the excited professor standing there holding his papers. He said, "Do you know what you've done?" George said, "I...did my homework." The professor laughed, "These weren't homework. They were two unsolved equations that every mathematician thought was impossible."

Average, unremarkable, invisible George had done the impossible. When asked about it later, George said, "I didn't know they were impossible, so I treated them like they weren't."

Many of the ceilings and boundaries in our lives have been put there by other people. They try to accomplish things and fail, so they say it can't be done by anyone else. "You can't do this because I couldn't do it, so it must not be possible."

But what is "impossible" in life? Could it be that the impossible things in your life really aren't impossible at all, but are just difficult? Are you giving up on things in your life too soon because of a boundary someone else set?

So many people never give themselves credit for what they are truly capable of. The words of family, teachers, friends, and even enemies are forever branded into their minds, and they feel they can never go beyond those limitations. Someone once told them they can't do something, and so they listened. But no one else has the right to create the ceilings of your life!

If you are facing a difficult (or even "impossible") problem in your life that other people have given up on or even told you is beyond your abilities, try looking at it from a different perspective. Ignore the limitations they have put on you, and treat it just like George did. Act like you didn't know it couldn't be done, so you just figured out a way to do it. You can amaze people if you are willing to keep going where others have given up!

You are capable of so much more than you realize, Brian. Don't let someone else's "impossible" limit your possibilities!

P.S. This topic is something I'm passionate about. If you're really interested in stretching your boundaries, I have both a presentation for your organization and a book called "Ignore the Impossible" that I think you'll find invaluable. Don't give up too soon! You can do hard things!