Roger That

There’s a quote attributed to Albert Einstein that says, “Everyone knew it was impossible, until a fool who didn't know came along and did it.” I had an entrepreneurship teacher in college that used to tell us to refrain from saying something is impossible, because as soon as you say it, someone will do it. Nelson Mandela, the leader of the apartheid movement in Africa, said that, “it always seems impossible until it's done.”

We bind ourselves with self-limiting beliefs more often than we think. As soon as you start thinking and re-thinking about how something can’t be done, you give less energy to actually doing it. Every inventor, entrepreneur, athlete, or revolutionary has done this, because it always seems crazy until someone actually does it. But even if you’re not trying to be any of those things, it still matters. We all have dreams, goals, and aspirations. If we want to make something of them, we need to stop getting in the way of ourselves. It’s easy to place obstacles, limitations, and imaginary resistance in our path while we could be focusing on how we can achieve it. This might sound like hokey pokey self-help speak, but it’s true.

The key is to learn how to channel your motivation. Whether it is someone else telling you that you can’t do something or fighting your own mindset, use that fuel to do more than what you thought you could. I heard a great example of this the other day in an interview with David Goggins. He said to look at challenges in life with a simple reply: roger that. Commit to overcoming a challenge regardless of the odds, and go above and beyond that expectation. When someone says you can’t or the road ahead seems daunting, simply say, roger that, and expect results. Life is too short to limit yourself. Whatever it is you want to be in life, go do it, because you absolutely can.