Impossible?
When I was young I was constantly reminded how some things were just impossible. I had many dreams, but a difficult start in life meant they were very very distant. I also had no mentor, guide or path on how to achieve the things I so dearly wanted to. This was going to be hard work. I saw my father suffer at the hands of fate at a young age and this was a pivitol moment. It could have reinforced any negative thoughts I harboured, but it actually drove me to make sure I did my best to achieve some of the things I really wanted to. That key moment gave me my drive. Sometimes you need that to fill in the skill gaps!
I started to read up and understand how others had been succesfull. A lot of them extoled the virtues of a positive mental attitude, a can do approach, a how not a why. At first this sounded like a load of BS, but over time I slowly realised that if you surround yourself with postive thoughts and people, while discarding negative thoughts and people, you slowly began to accept that anything is possible with enough effort and application. I learnt that nothing is completely impossible, just sometimes very difficult. Also, sometimes, you needed a bit of luck as well. But even that taught me something, that luck is where opportunity meets ability. Negative thinkers just never spot the opportunity.
What’s the source of this ramble? Tonight on Discovery channel there is a must watch film for everybody. It is the story of Philippe Petit, the film ‘Man on a wire‘. It’s an Oscar winner and one of the most inspirational films I have ever watched. The story and the man behind the film is a great example of ‘Anything is possible’. Also, listen carefully to Petit’s philosophy of life, it is refreshing and inspiring.
On my next trip to New York I’m going to seek out Petit to see if I can get five mintes with him, it would be a pleasure to meet him. Impossible? That’s what people said when I told them I wanted to meet Warren Buffett.
Category: General
