Achieving the unachievable?
Posted on March 10, 2010 by The Engineer
Why don’t we aim beyond what we are capable of? Once, Kanye told me:
Reach for the stars so if you fall you’ll land on a cloud
This is something I’ve been reading a lot about lately – in different books I’ve picked up, in different blogs I’ve read recently, and on my thoughts. Why do we not achieve everything we ever want’
If we create ourselves, and we do not ‘find’ ourselves, then why aren’t we all exactly who we want to be? Why don’t we have a complete and total disregard for where our own abilities end?
As an experiment, I am going to do something not planned, and record my results. I am going to sit down and think of things I am incapable of doing.
- Speaking French
- Being a lawyer
- Retiring in 2010
Now I’m going to list the ‘whys’ of my incapabilities:
- I haven’t practiced French.
- I have no desire to be a lawyer.
- I don’t have enough money to retire
The theory of “nothing is impossible” floats around, and if I believe that, then there should be no reason why I couldn’t do all three of these things. In fact, I know I could learn french. I could probably learn french rather quickly, considering I’m fluent in Spanish, the second learned language usually comes easier.
If I really, really, and I mean really wanted to, I could go to law school. It would be my worst nightmare, but you know what, I know how to read, I can stay focused, and my brain works well enough to learn the things that you learn in law school, and I could pass the tests to become a lawyer.
Retiring in 2010? Could I earn enough money in 10 months to then live the rest of my days not working? Maybe.
But could I set up systems for businesses and ways to make money so that I don’t have to tend to them every single day of the week, thus taking many mini-retirements every year? Absolutely.
As I type this, it has become clear to me that this is easy! In fact, I will take it on as a goal – to learn to set up systems of business so that I can have the freedom to do as I wish, living my life engineered to my exact specifications.
I read once that Victoria Beckham used to say, “I want to be as famous as Persil Automatic.” I had to look up Persil Automatic; it’s a laundry detergent that is very popular in the UK. I’m guessing it’s the US equivalent to Tide.
She set her sights high – wanting to be a brand. Have we ever thought like that? Do you want to be more popular than Tide?
It really doesn’t matter how great you are, it only matters how great you want to be.
