Favorite Inspirational Quotes

Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.

Ruth Elizabeth Davis aka Bette Davis

Upon reading this the first time, some people might think it’s silly to attempt the impossible because it’s … well, impossible.

Two things came to mind for me upon reading this quote.  One was that people do the impossible every day either because they accept it as a challenge or because they didn’t know it was impossible.  Perhaps the most well-acknowledged case of this is the breaking of the 4 minute mile.  Everyone knew it was impossible till the challenge was accepted and 4 minutes was busted.  It didn’t take any time at all, to speak of, before lots of runners were doing it.

The second thought I had was that by attempting the impossible you improve how you do things and create new systems that end up with you doing more of your work faster and more efficiently.  In my case, I could put up maybe one or two of a particular type of websites a week.  But by accepting the challenge to do three in a week, I set up a check list and systems that allowed me to not only meet my goal, but to surpass it.  If I could afford the continual push and initial monetary outlay at this point in time, I could easily do three to four times the number of my challenge.  Maybe as income builds, I will do so one day.

In the meantime, this challenge, while not necessarily attempting the impossible, did push me out of my comfort zone, increased my focus, and improved my work.  That is what attempting the impossible as in the quote above gives you and how I think Ms. Davis meant it.  Now that I am finally back at work, at least part time, from those left turns life threw my way I just need to get back that increased focus and action that the challenge had provided me.

Tags: challenge