It’s Impossible

I’ve been catching up on episodes of a programme called the ‘Great British Menu’. Professional chefs compete to showcase their menus to a selected audience of notable people. This is an opportunity for new culinary talents to show off their skills.

The passion and drive all the chefs exuded is nothing short of extraordinary. The series was celebrating mind blowing British innovations.

The innovations ranged from discovery of IVF, guide dog training, light house, the Titanic, Internet, apple computer design to other life changing discoveries.

Their menus told stories of people who were pioneers in their fields of space and aeronautic engineering, bee pollination, and there were heroic stories like that of the Edinburgh 7 – 7 women who braved discrimination and intimidation so they could attend the university.

All of these stories celebrated the ‘art of the impossible’. Discovery of metals that remember their old shape and can return back to it after the application of heat or shape forming materials that can be used to tailor handles of equipments allowing the less able to do tasks many of us take for granted, were once unfathomable.

I was dazzled by many inventions that make our lives easy today and it got me thinking about a quote from Albert Einstein which says, “Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”

Many of us shy away from tasks that are difficult and our curiousity fizzles out too quickly. Inventors embrace challenges and remain ever curious. They look for problems to solve and never shy away from obvious problems.

We live in a world where there is cheap entertainment in the form of trash TV content and unlimited contents are now available on demand. These time stealers rob us of opportunities to get out and discover what is around us, problems to solve, and wonders to see.

Many things that I once thought were impossible are now possible and many things that are state of the art today will soon become obsolete.

‘It is impossible’ is what many of us think when ideas cross our mind, but inventors ask, ‘how can it be possible?’ When ideas come up, we must understand that if it were truly impossible, the chances of our mind conjuring them up would be very slim.

The thought that ‘It’s impossible’ has stopped many from pursuing their passions, going back to school, applying for their dream job or course, travelling or relocating to another part of the world.

So how can we embrace the mindset of inventors?

Have a curious mind

Inventors are curious people, they ask the tough questions and they refuse to give up and they are willing to devote an entire life time to get answers.

Look for problems to solve

Schools for the blind, Braille and guide dogs were solutions to the problems that partially sighted and blind people faced. IVF was discovered because the scientist wanted to solve the problem of childlessness.

Many problem solvers do not directly benefit from their inventions but they care enough about the welfare of others to help find solutions. Many inventions that kept miners safe were by non-miners.

Deal with negative views and mindsets

Remove the phrase, ‘it’s impossible’, from your vocabulary and replace it with ‘how can this be possible?’ You don’t have to figure it out by yourself so find and collaborate with people who can help answer this question.

Perseverance and Persistence

Inventors and those who do the impossible understand the importance of these two words. They persevere and they persist . This takes its toll on many areas of their lives but they know there is a price to pay to achieve their goals.

We must be willing to make a difference and that means embracing what was once impossible until we figure it out.

Thanks for reading and sharing my post. Here’s to a week full of possibilities.