When people say something is impossible, is that the case?
We hear people all the time-defying the odds and going to the extremes and pushing the boundaries.
For years, experts said it was impossible to run a 4-minute mile. It couldn’t be done. They claimed the feat was not only humanly possible but even life-threatening. The human body simply couldn’t run a 4-minute mile without the person’s heart exploding.
Apparently, runners had been trying for a thousand years with no success.
Then in the 1940s, the mile record was pushed to 4:01, where it stood for nine years, as runners struggled with the idea that, just maybe, the experts had it right. Perhaps the human body had reached its limits and couldn’t be pushed any further.
On May 6, 1954, the world stopped and watched in awe and amazing, Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier running the distance in 3:59.4. Was the stopwatch right? The unthinkable, the impossible is really happening before our eyes.
Would Bannister go home and die later? Would it have an effect on his life? Apparently not. He lived to 88.
So how did he do it? How did he make the impossible possible?
Bannister wasn’t the greatest runner England had produced but yet he somehow did the impossible. An ordinary man did an extraordinary thing.
Barely a year after Bannister broke the record someone else run the 4-minute mile. Nowadays people can run a mile in 3:45.
Step 1. Bannister had a goal and a vision. He totally believes he could break the mile down into 4 simple parts to achieve the impossible. He hones his skills and took the macro goal and made micro-goals. Remember you build a wall brick by brick.
Step 2. He tuned out the outside noise. Bannister knew in his heart he could do it.
Step 3. He visualized running the 3.59 day and night seeing every step of the way making it become his reality.
Step 4. He was relentless even when he failed. He never quit on himself knowing that it could be done if he keeps grinding away.
People run 100-mile ultramarathons. The standard marathon is 26.2 miles.
The iron cowboy and regular guy could barely do a 5km. A year later he was doing ironman contest. Then he broke a world record doing 30 in one year. Then to top his record 30 in 30 days. That’s right, 30 ironman contests in 30 days.
Next time you feel something deep in your soul and people say it’s impossible. Take a step back and think for a moment of all the great inventors of our time that changed the world we live in today. If they didn’t follow their callings we wouldn’t be able to do the things we can do today.
As an inventor Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When did a reporter ask him how did he feel to fail 1,000 times? Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention of 1,000 steps.”
It’s all about mindset and how you approach a mistake or like Edison, a step.
Keep grinding and don’t let the opinions of others drown your voice.
Remember you never see a moving car following a hearse at a funeral. Why? Cause the guy in the hearse is taking nothing with him to the next life.
