How to do the impossible! (by jim Connolly)

                                                                    

You need to be really be careful about the limitations you place on yourself. This brief article explains why.

I’d like to start by asking you a question:

When was the last time you consciously thought about, what’s really possible for you?

One of the reasons children are so creative, is that they are open to all possibilities. We all start off that way. Then, as we grow up, we apply various filters to our thinking, as we determine what is and is not possible for us. The challenge, is that we often get it wrong. This causes us to wrongly remove possibilities from our  decision making and creative thinking, which unnecessarily restricts us.

Understanding what is and is not possible for you

Imagine Bob tried to play the guitar when he was 12 and found it extremely hard, then quit. He then decides he can’t play the guitar and being a guitarist gets added to the list of things that are not possible for him. Now, Bob also discovered as a kid, that he couldn’t fly like superman, after he tried to take flight, Superman style, when jumping from a tree.

Bob’s flying like Superman experience was filtered as not possible, based on fact. His guitar experience was filtered as not possible, based on fiction. If Bob really wanted to play guitar, with the right tuition and a tuned guitar, he would get there and play to a lesser or greater degree. With enough practice, he could then become very good.

Just like Bob, we too make similar, incorrect decisions on what is and is not possible for us.

Rethinking my possibilities

In 2002, I decided to rethink what was and was not possible for me. I had a successful, traditional marketing business in London, England. My challenge was that I was passionate about working in marketing, but wanted to move with my wife, to live in the countryside, where there were few potential clients. My initial thought was this isn’t possible, I need to be where my clients are. As I didn’t want to waste hours each day travelling, it seemed I was destined to stay in London and put my dream of a home in the countryside on ice for 30 years, until I retired. UNLESS I found another way.

So, my challenge was to find an alternative way to deliver my services and run a viable business. I decided to embrace the technology available 10 years ago, and deliver my services remotely. It worked. Beautifully. Instead of working with people in my local area, I had clients worldwide and still do today. Within 12 months, I was living in my dream home, working fewer hours, running an extremely successful international marketing business and earning more than I used to when I was in London.

Still today, I know people who say they would love to relocate as I did, but that it’s just not possible.

Rethinking your possibilities

Take time out today to rethink your own possibilities.

In particular, examine the stories you have told yourself, which may have wrongly removed possibilities from your treasure chest of options.

- Be Inspired