Living an impossible life

Committing to living an impossible life

I hate the idea of something being labelled impossible, which simply breeds negativity and self-defeat.

It's when we accept boundaries of what is possible and impossible that we create reasons to lead a quiet, boring and unaccomplished life.

What reason is there to strive for something great if we know our dreams have already been labelled impossible?

It's only through these crazy and seemingly impossible pursuits that we can discover true greatness in both ourselves and our achievements and I, for one, refuse to be bound by the concept of impossible any longer.

Amazing people do impossible things

The most inspiring people who have ever lived spat in the face of impossible.

They were told by everyone that their dreams would never become a reality and that they would most certainly end in failure. They were told over and over again and still they pushed forward, unfazed by the world's definition of possible.

Through this unwavering belief in their vision, they were able to do things others could not. They worked harder, pushed further and lasted longer than anyone before because they believed that no matter what people said, they could redefine impossibility.

This blind optimism saw the Wright Brother first take flight in 1903, it saw Yuri Gagarin become the first person in space in 1961 and, last year, it saw Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg make the first solar-powered flight around the globe.

We have seen these incredible accomplishments like these defy the bounds of what we thought possible and yet, in spite of all our accomplishments, we still treat the impossible as something to fear and avoid.

Impossibly bad advice

Many times, I was told that my ideas were impossible, crazy or unrealistic. This pessimism stifled my ambitions and led me to suffer through self-doubt and indecision because I was too afraid to attempt risk on my own.

Now, having undergone what was easily the most successful and transformative year of my life, I am once again hearing these same voices of negativity.

As I look forward to build on what I have accomplished, I am once again being told that my goals are too ambitious and that I am sure to fail.

Although these warnings are coming from friends, family members and colleges who I'm sure have my best interests at heart, they are the root cause of the fears that would keep me from reaching greater heights.

It's for this reason that I decided to commit myself to striving for an impossible life.

My impossible plan

In planning for my upcoming year and curating my new commitment to impossibility I came across the concept of an impossible list, which was developed by Joel Runyon from impossiblehq.com and expanded on by this inspiring and motivating guy named Thomas Frank of collegeinfogeek.com.

The concept is much like a bucket list, but instead of a list of things you hope to do before you die, the impossible list is a vision that you build to take action in your life right now.

By listing all the things you've always wanted to do or always hoped you could do, you can easily cherry pick what goals you'll want to attack now and slowly bring your impossible goals into to the realm of possibility.

I've listed my long and (some would say) crazy goals on my site scalemylife.com. Please check them out and borrow this same strategy for your life.

Muhammad Ali once said:

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.

• "Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion.
• "Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare.
• "Impossible is potential.
• "Impossible is temporary.
• "Impossible is nothing.”

So I dare you to seize your potential to build your impossible life.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.