'Impossible' - An Excuse for Doing Nothing?

"It's impossible." "Can't be done." "You'll never do that!" Heard any of those? What do you do when someone makes a comment like that? Slink back to your corner embarrassed for even having thought of such a thing or do you dig in and get even more determined?

Impossible is a wonderful excuse for not doing all the things you've dreamed of, isn't it? 'It would be impossible for me to retire early, travel the world, quit my job, do all the things I've dreamt of.' It's also a great way to put out someone else's dreams - "You can't cross an ocean, fly, go to the moon" - imagine if Columbus, the Wright brothers or all the folks at NASA had accepted the 'Impossible Excuse'.

If you choose to do some adventurous things with your 750,000 Hours (read anything beyond go to work, go home to watch the telly, and go to the mall), you will encounter folks who will discuss how impossible it is for you to A) quit your job, B) sail around the world, C) go live in a different country, D) any combination of A, B, and C or any other life dream you may have. It's very easy to let those comments affect you until you realise that although someone may be saying what you want to do is impossible, actually it's not impossible, it's just impossible for that person.

Most of the things we want to do aren't even close to impossible, the majority aren't even really that difficult with some self discipline. Many folks do what seems impossible to others without batting an eye (check out the Marathon Monks of Japan), compared to some folks the things we want to do aren't impossible, they're pretty simple really...