There is a French proverb that goes something like this, "To believe a
thing is impossible is to make it so". How true that is. Throughout my 35+
years of coaching I have witnessed that proverb playing out countless times and
it bothers me just as much now as it did the first time I heard a
student/athlete lament,
"I can't do it". It hurts me to even write those words
down, and I most certainly don't want anyone to think those are words in my
vocabulary. There's just something about saying you "can't", it's
almost like magic sprinkle dust that suddenly destroys our efforts and creates
a losing situation. For anyone out there today that feels like they are in a
hopeless situation and that you "can't" defeat that demon that is
standing in front of you, I assure you there is hope, I'm in the making
impossibilities possible business, and I have a business partner that makes
"all things possible"!
I've had volleyball players who were struggling with successfully getting their overhand serve across the net. It's almost funny to watch, because one day it just starts clicking and then it was kinda like "What was I doing that I couldn't get the ball across the net?" The player really can't pinpoint the answer to their own question, but most certainly it is not because they had a mindset that they couldn't do it. Adversely, in pretty much every similar situation, the drive, the commitment, and the hard work that went into practicing their technique, and a downright belief that they could do it had everything to do with making it happen.
Saying the words "I can't" are almost like creating an invisible force field that assures you won't breakthrough the problem that is in front of you. We call these invisible force fields barriers. Some may appear to be visible barriers, but I suggest that even a visible barrier has an invisible force field encircling it. Those barriers are sometimes harder to break because we are the ones that have created it in our minds and we are incapable of seeing around, thru, or onto the other side of the barrier standing in our way. These invisible barriers exist in our relationships, our work places, and athletic endeavors such as learning to swim, lifting a new personal best, or even serving a volleyball overhand across a net.
It may be hard, it may be challenging, it may be downright close to impossible, but... not impossible. Ever heard of a man named Roger Bannister? Before he did it, the notion of someone running a mile in less four minutes was thought to be impossible. It was actually thought that anyone attempting to accomplish that feat would die trying. But on May 7, 1954 Roger Bannister did exactly what had previously been labelled impossible. He ran the first recorded sub four-minute mile at Oxford in England. I listened to a recording by Bannister and he told a story about how the Swedes had a runner make it to just above four minutes and that many in the sports science world thought that four minutes might just be a barrier that no one could break. It was impossible. Bannister's comment on that falsehood, "Just because they say it's impossible doesn't mean you can't do it". Today it is estimated that 1,497 humans have ran a sub four-minute mile and guess what there will be 1,498 then 1,499, and then well you get the picture. It was not impossible, it was an invisible barrier that had to be broken by someone willing to believe that all things are possible.
Your barriers, invisible as they may be, are there to keep you from achieving what you want to achieve, but if you are willing to hold on to hope, trust in a power bigger than yourself, and work harder than anyone else around you, you can break through whatever is standing in your way. You know why I'm so sure of this? I have the testimonial from my business partner, listen to what he says about the words impossible and can't. "Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27. The situation may appear hopeless, the circumstances may be dire, or the odds just aren't in your favor, but what I hear is that all things are possible with God in control. Trust, believe, work hard, never give up, and always, always give your best!
Coach Carter
Here's a link to the news clip from Roger Bannister's record setting feat!
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