Success
Nov 23, 2024
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4
min read
TL;DR
“Impossible” is an opinion, not a fact. History’s success stories are just people who refused to accept the default settings. Choose optimism, and yesterday’s impossibility becomes tomorrow’s normal.
Success = making the impossible possible
Ernest Hemingway allegedly wrote that success belongs to “those who make the impossible possible.” Whether he said it or not, the sentiment stands. Humanity’s story is a highlight reel of moving goal‑posts: flight, antibiotics, the internet, spicy chicken wings delivered in 15 minutes.
The trick is realising impossible is just the consensus view on a Tuesday. Change the consensus, and the label evaporates.
Take aviation. Only thirty‑two years separate the first Spitfire test flight (1936) and Concorde’s maiden take‑off (1969). One generation took us from propellers over Hampshire to Mach 2 over the Atlantic. Same oxygen, different mindset.
Pessimism is cheap; optimism compounds
Most people default to “that’ll never work”—low risk, no effort, polite applause if events prove them right. Optimism is harder: you risk looking foolish, you spend real energy, and you might still fail. But optimism attracts talent, capital and serendipity. It’s the only way to shove the frontier outward.
My small brush with ‘impossible’
I once pitched a feature our engineers swore would bury the sprint board for a quarter. We shipped it in six weeks because one senior dev refused to accept the calendar maths. His optimism infected the room; constraints bent.
How to practise hopeful heresy
Yes, if … Swap “can we?” for “what would have to be true?”
Stack small proofs. One improbable demo > ten slide‑deck promises.
Broadcast momentum. Progress stories turn sceptics into allies.
Model the upside and the cost of inaction. Often the latter is scarier.
Final thought
Impossible is a moving target. Be the reason it moves.
Estimated read: 4 minutes
Category: IFUHWIL
Date:
Got a favourite impossible‑turned‑possible story? Hit reply, I collect them like trading cards.
