Judging from the way people talk, pretty much everything is apparently impossible to achieve. I’m confident Columbus’s quest to reach the East Indies via the western route was regarded as impossible by most. I’m equally confident that not even 200 years ago practically everybody believed flight to be impossible. In short, pretty much everything awesome anybody has ever done has been called impossible.
Theoretically, one could try to find out whether or not something is impossible by applying scientific principles and mathematical formulas to the problem at hand. If, after being able to rule out all possible scenarios, you discover something is either physically, biologically, or mentally impossible, you have your answer.
But it doesn’t work that way in real life. It’s nearly impossible to actually prove something is impossible (ironically enough). Just because you can’t figure out how to do something doesn’t mean it’s not possible, it just means you don’t know how to do it yet. It’s very easy, on the other hand, to prove something is possible: just do it!
People have a tendency to believe something is impossible merely because they don’t know how to do it. They’ve never actually tried, of course; they just can’t figure out how to do it. So it must not be possible, naturally.
For example, many people would say it’s impossible to earn a significant income on the internet, but I’ve managed to do it and so have many others. Still more would say it’s impossible to become wealthy without winning the lottery (a very common belief among low-income workers), but thousands manage it every year. As it turns out, impossible is pretty easy, namely because most things people consider “impossible” are merely things they never bothered to try themselves.
So the next time somebody advises you not to do something because it’s “too hard” and “you’ll never succeed,” ask them how they know. Have they tried it? If not, it’s probably fine to ignore their advice.
Theoretically, one could try to find out whether or not something is impossible by applying scientific principles and mathematical formulas to the problem at hand. If, after being able to rule out all possible scenarios, you discover something is either physically, biologically, or mentally impossible, you have your answer.
But it doesn’t work that way in real life. It’s nearly impossible to actually prove something is impossible (ironically enough). Just because you can’t figure out how to do something doesn’t mean it’s not possible, it just means you don’t know how to do it yet. It’s very easy, on the other hand, to prove something is possible: just do it!
People have a tendency to believe something is impossible merely because they don’t know how to do it. They’ve never actually tried, of course; they just can’t figure out how to do it. So it must not be possible, naturally.
For example, many people would say it’s impossible to earn a significant income on the internet, but I’ve managed to do it and so have many others. Still more would say it’s impossible to become wealthy without winning the lottery (a very common belief among low-income workers), but thousands manage it every year. As it turns out, impossible is pretty easy, namely because most things people consider “impossible” are merely things they never bothered to try themselves.
So the next time somebody advises you not to do something because it’s “too hard” and “you’ll never succeed,” ask them how they know. Have they tried it? If not, it’s probably fine to ignore their advice.
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