Achieving the impossible – It would be a foolish task to aim at the impossible and yet people that do tend to reach heights their piers can only dream about. These days it seems mediocrity is more noble than achieving your dreams.
There is something about those unique minds that don’t seem to realize they are attempting something that is not only unlikely but to many impossible. I applaud those that seem foolish enough to succeed at their dreams because of one very important flaw in their character: Naivety.
If someone never questions if they will succeed they often either learn lessons in not succeeding or succeed even beyond their expectations.
Self doubt is the weight we voluntarily carry, it allows us to give up. The excuse is a wonderful benefit of self-doubt, it allows us to stop running the race before it even starts.
Common obstacles:
- Excuses, Excuses: If we live on excuses we never have to do anything out of our comfort zone. Success is impossible-what is the point of chasing after pipe dreams. Grow up and stop dreaming, excuses are the drug we use when we’ve given up on what we want for fear of failure.
- Blaming others: Blaming others allows us to skirt the issue, it’s not our fault we failed, we’re just not lucky, we weren’t born rich, we weren’t born with options others have.
- Self-doubt: If we spend so much time explaining why our idea won’t work we’ve already given up before we started. There is a beauty in those foolish enough to proceed even when the odds are against them.
- Expectations and reliance on others: If you expect a hand out from anyone, you are doomed to put your life in a holding pattern. It is the obstacle that allows us to procrastinate, it takes all the control and the blame off our shoulders and assigns just reasons why we can’t achieve the impossible.
- Afraid of work or sacrifice: Few successful people accidentally succeed, they work for what they have, and they chase their passions tirelessly. They are fully committed and their passion allows them to sacrifice the time and effort necessary to succeed.
- A lack of passion: We often chase a dream that may be programmed by well meaning parents or a job that ensures wealth or a life of ease. The problem with this tendency to live a programmed life is a lack of passion-how do you work tirelessly if you have no passion in the act of the pursuit nor full understanding of what the end game means. Wealth will not make you happy, chasing your dreams and seeking your passion will.
We must be realistic but not in the pursuit of our dreams instead realistic in who we are-what is our passion, what would fulfill our lives and make us content. I once thought I wanted to be a travel photographer and yet during the years of raising a family, the last thing I would want was to be away from them. The goals and dreams we seek must be in line with the people we are and that we only learn through time and experience.
My advice, shoot for the moon, be foolish enough to succeed, live a passionate life full of learning, exploring and adventure. We only grow old when we give up the great adventure, so start your book, start a screenplay or make plans for the Oscars, the sky is the limit and the only limit is your drive, passion and imagination.
