Amongst all of the BS we are given to hear all day long, one that usually frustrates me the most is when I am told that something is impossible.

All those “you can’t” that often just mean “I don’t know how”.

I heard it from my principal when I wanted to go to a scientific specialization in high school because I sucked in Maths. Yet I finished high school at 16 years old with a grade decent enough to study medicine (I dropped out later on).

I heard it from myself when I was shy AF and couldn’t speak to any female human being without blushing. Yet I pushed myself to fight it and spent days going by myself on the street in Bordeaux, speaking to random girls just to fight my own anxiety. After a month I had a list of 50 phone numbers, most of which I never called back. But mostly, I gained the ability to interact with any human being, and have fun while doing it.

I heard it so many times.
From myself, from my family, from others.

“You can’t do whatever you want, just accept it.”

Actually I don’t believe you can do everything you want, just like that, all at the same time.

But I genuinely know that when you give yourself the means to do almost anything you think you can’t, then you most probably can.

It’s not about claiming “if I want, I can fly, just like that”.

It’s about thinking: “how can I find a way to fly?”

Then you may end up creating planes, rockets, jetpacks, helicopters, or whatever we know that flies.

When you say: “it’s impossible” or “you can’t do that”, you just make yourself completely powerless.

You lost.

Not because you can’t win, but because you claim that you can’t, upfront.

In the end of the day, the World is transformed by all the people who think they can.

And none of those who think they can’t ever achieve anything.

When you reject impossibility as a form of fatal fate that is thrown at you, you give yourself the power to bend reality.

It’s so easy to say that things are impossible.
And it’s equally easy to accept it.

Nike says: Impossible is nothing.

It’s not just a cool quote on a t-shirt.

It should be a mantra for people who care about doing things.

It works for the big and the small things.

What led me to write this post is something that just happened when I tried to do a transfer from an ATM (way to do things here).

The ATM didn’t processed the transfer and swallowed my card.

This is my business debit card, and my bank is in Bali, and, without diving into the details, things became messy.

It’s Sunday, banks are closed.

My bank says on the phone that I need to block the card.

The ATM’s bank says I can’t get it back because it’s from another bank.

The security guy says there is no way to get the card back.

My friends all tell me I need to block it and make a new one.

My staff tells me we need to make a new one.

…

After a short peak of anger, I realize my impact on the situation is limited, and that banks have rules.

Maybe it’s one of the cases in which I actually can’t.

I go have some food to finish to calm down and think.

After eating, it’s already 8:30PM, and I decide to go back there.

There’s a new security guy.

This one doesn’t even look at me, he is busy playing Mobile Legends.

The lack of respect was real.

When he saw I wasn’t actually going away as I kept repeating in loop mode what happened, and that I really needed to pay my suppliers, and that there is no way I make a new card because the bank is in Bali.. He finally paused the game and looked at me.

“Sorry, sir, I can’t help you. Those are the rules I explained to you. It’s impossible to get your card because it’s from another bank.”

I was angry inside, but you can’t get angry at Indonesian people. It’s like patience is a built-in feature in their DNA.

Being angry at a coconut tree would have been more successful than being angry at this security guy… So I calmed down.

I took a deep breath, and looked at him in the eyes.

“Look. I know there are rules, and I know you are doing your job here. Now, here we are building a resort on the island out there, people are working, and the card that got swallowed is our only business debit card. There is no way I can make a new one. I need to get this one, and I need it quickly because my suppliers are getting impatient (I made up this last part, but he didn’t know).”

He finally seemed to understand, and to take me seriously.

He said: “Ok, sir, I understand the situation. The person who has the keys of the ATM will come back tomorrow at 8AM, and I will get the card for you so you can get it tomorrow morning.”

Finally, after 4h of hearing about what was impossible, I got what seemed like a potential positive outcome.

Now, I don’t have the card in hand yet, and it absolutely doesn’t matter (we already found a way around).

The point is that once again, there is a way to reject “impossible” and to find a solution, in a way or another.

Sometimes, it doesn’t work, though.

And this also doesn’t matter.

Because it’s not about winning every single time, it’s about constantly fighting the BS and nonsense of this World that pull us back.

Some battles you win,
Some battles you lose.

But those you don’t even dare to fight are lost before you even know.

Sometimes, it’s about a stupid debit card, sometimes, it’s about life changing choices.

It doesn’t matter.

The mindset of constantly rejecting what we are told we can’t do.

This, is what matters.