Yes, Virginia, There Is The Impossible

Human Skills: The Human-Centred Workplace

You’ve heard the mantra: ‘Everything is possible’.

It’s one of many similar claims circulated on feel-good ‘motivational’ sites, posts and promotions.

Not only are many of them untrue, in some cases they are harmful and cruel.

Sometimes a goal is unattainable because it’s not ‘smart’. It might be non-specific, hard to measure, and unrealistic, given the time and resources available. That’s a problem with the goal itself. After reflection, it might be achievable if certain plans and parameters are readjusted and resources allocated.

That’s not my focus here.

I’m talking about statements like these:

‘Don’t think about it, just do it’

This one hardly deserves a response. Over-analysis can be crippling, but a thoughtful investigation of a problem or goal is non-negotiable. Solving a problem or achieving a goal requires a plan and a process.

We are rational human beings. We need to engage in thought, to determine whether (or not) a goal is realistic and attainable, given the available skills and resources.

‘If you can dream it, you can do it’

No. Just, no.

Having a dream or visualisation is vastly important; there’s no doubt about that. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, challenging limited thinking or pushing beyond our ‘comfort zones’.

Dreaming helps us set our sights high and through visualisation we ‘see ourselves’ achieving something. These things help us stretch our boundaries, develop our skills and expand our capabilities. That’s useful and positive.

But it’s also important to know that there are limits.

Dreaming spurs action and is therefore a motivating force. It might help us push back the boundaries and extend our field of success but, ultimately, there will be limitations. Our dreams might break through or leap over some of them but, after a certain point, we can no longer do that.

We’re human. And all the dreaming in the world doesn’t make us ‘superhuman’.

‘All it takes is commitment and passion’

Well, it takes a lot more than that.

Commitment is vital, but only after we’ve made a reasonable assessment of whether or not it is warranted. To ignore genuine limits and insurmountable obstacles is... well, ignorant.

A lifelong commitment to a genuinely impossible cause is wasted effort. Again, it’s about assessment and planning, to determine what the obstacles and final limits are.

And ‘passion’ – however we choose to interpret this overused word – might boost our performance, inspire others and spark or nurture creativity but it will never make the impossible happen.

‘Make the impossible possible’

This is the silliest one of all, not least because it’s a contradiction in terms.

Thought, action and commitment are required to achieve any goals. And we can meet ours if they are realistic and adequately resourced.

The impossible remains, by definition, impossible.

To say something’s impossible might be an opinion, and it might not be true. It might even be an excuse.

Quite often, what we can do is achieve what we thought was impossible – through planning, hard work, commitment, skill development and, OK, ‘passion’.

Why can’t the ‘gurus’ say that?

It’s untrue, and just plain wrong, to claim that anything or everything is possible; it’s unhelpful even to imply it.

When I was 9 years old, I cautiously believed that if I practised my ‘nose twitch’ hard enough I could be the next Samantha Stevens (Bewitched). Impossible. I got over it.

It’s healthy and very human to recognise and accept that, ultimately, we all have limitations. Pushing ourselves to find our limits, and even to expand them is admirable.

Pretending limits don’t exist is nonsense. It can also cause harm.

I see young people whose enthusiasm, energy and drive diminish, because these excellent qualities don’t lead to what they have been told they will.

The false claims that suggest ‘If you want it badly enough you can do (or have) it’ are counterproductive. Far from motivational, they damage, rather than strengthen, self-belief.

A final note

I am constantly struck by the uncritical, almost mindless, ‘gushing’ praise that is given automatically to these wildly sweeping and inaccurate statements, wherever they appear.

For the welfare of young people, especially, who are still shaping and assessing their expectations and abilities, we need to call these claims out for what they are, whenever they appear.

This is not negativity. This is not defeatism. It’s about valuing and developing to the maximum the skills and talent we have and developing new skills that are within our reach. Of course, as Robert Browning said, ‘our reach should exceed our grasp’ but there will be a limit.

We should feel great about achieving the things we can rather than feel inadequate about those we can’t.

No nose twitching required.