NO LIMITS EXPEDITION
The most interesting people spend their lives exploring the envelop of possibility. The word impossible is not in their vocabulary as they relentlessly push the envelope of possibility into new areas every single day.
Impossible is a life-stopping word, and when you say it, life screeches to an instant halt.
For most people, impossible is a one way ticket to their comfort zone, and that is fine with them. All of this talk about living without limits makes them uncomfortable. Spending all of that time, energy and resources on something that might not work out is not worth it to them. Just pop another brewski, watch some more television and ignore the fact that the envelope of possibility just got smaller than it was yesterday.
When I was young, I wondered how much to bet on the next throw of the dice. Now that I am older, I wonder how many throws of the dice I have left. This fact alone motivates me to attack life in the time that remains, to use all my strength to make my life into a no limits expedition.
For reasons unknown to me, I have always wanted to sail around the world in a small boat and drive around the world in a Land Rover Defender. These aspirations bubble up in my mind many times each day, and there is nothing I can do to make them go away. I guess that is the definition of passion - something that relentlessly comes up in my mind. But it's much more than that. It’s also a tenacious commitment to make it happen. That’s why I ended up exploring the world in six Land Rover Defenders, and sailing around the world in Exit Only.
As I got older I realized it's impossible to save the world. The best I can do is rock the world with my websites that chronicle what is possible when my life is a no limits expedition.
Although the envelope of possibility is exceedingly large, amazing adventures happen only at the edges of that envelope. That’s why I push the envelope into new territory each day.
Envelope pushers poke and prod the envelope to find new areas into which they can expand. That is exactly what entrepreneurs do. They risk it all to to expand the envelope of possibility.
In the movie, the Truman Show, Truman tries to explore the envelope of possibility, but he is thwarted at every attempt to expand his world. When he went to school, he told his teacher that he wanted to be an explorer, and the teacher said the entire world had already been explored, and there was no longer any need for explorers.
The teacher was part of a conspiracy to keep Truman in his place - to keep him living in Nowhere Land where exploration is a thing of the past.
Real explorers make their life into a no limits expedition, and that expedition has nothing to do with geography. Real explorers spend their entire lives expanding the envelope of possibility. That’s where true exploration happens.
The way you expand the envelope of possibility is to push your limits every day. The word impossible never enters your mind, and you don’t look at life through the lens of impossibility. You nudge the envelope of possibility a little bit each day, and you see what happens. If good things happen, you keep pushing the envelope in that location, and if things don’t work out, you move to a different part of the envelope and give it a nudge in a new direction. Pushing the envelope happens a little bit at a time, and when you persist long enough, the envelope expands, and everyone wonders how you made it happen.
Envelope pushers have amazing lives. The rules of engagement for their lives take them places the rest of us never go, and they do things other people will never do.
Elon Musk pushes the envelope every day, and that’s why we have electric cars and rockets that someday will take people to mars. Richard Branson is a billionaire because he pushed the envelope starting in his teenage years, and he never quit.
You can’t push the envelope of possibility with a negative mind.
People with a negative mind stay away from the edges of the envelope because they know nothing good will happen when they try to push the envelope. Every time they tried to push it in the past, it didn’t work out, and they see no reason to try in the future.
If you have a negative mind, you don’t believe in the envelope of possibility. Instead, you call it the envelope of impossibility. That’s why negative people have such miserable lives. They focus on the impossibilities of life rather than the possible.
Positive people don’t think in terms of impossibility. Instead, they focus on possibility, and they push their limits every day. That’s why they have interesting and exciting lives.
Your beliefs decide whether you are imprisoned in an envelope of impossibility or whether your life expands endlessly into a positive future.
Impossible is not a wall or a physical place. It's a belief and nothing more.
Impossible is a lie people tell themselves, and this false belief stops them in their tracks and causes them to take up residence in Nowhere Land.
I live in the Land of Possibility, and my beliefs about what I can do and accomplish expand every day. That’s why it’s exciting to get up in the morning, because today I will nudge the envelop of possibility in an entirely new direction, and I can hardly wait to see what amazing things I can make happen. I live in the Land of Possibility where there is no limit to how good my life can become.
When Jesus said, “All things are possible to those who believe,” he was talking about the envelope of possibility.
True believers don’t let the world force them into a mold, and they don’t try to force other people into their mold, because they don’t have a mold. True believers focus on the envelope of possibility, and they believe that all things are possible for those who push their limits.
The edge of possibility is where passionate people make their dreams come true.
Mountain climbers explore the envelope of possibility with every step they take. Rock climbers push the envelope of possibility with every hand hold and toe hold on a sheer rock face.
Pushing the envelope usually is a life long commitment to excellence. People who push the envelope have a long time horizon, and they expect the miraculous to take time.
When Tommy Caldwell pioneered a new route up the face of El Capitan, it took hundreds of attempts over several years to make it happen.
When Alex Honnold free climbed El Capitan in Yosemite, he worked relentlessly for months to expand the envelope of possibility to where such a feat was possible.
When Elon Musk decided that electric cars were the future of transportation, he made a long term risky commitment. When he decided to create driverless cars and trucks, he knew it would take years to happen. When he decided to send people to mars, he understood it would require at least a decade to make it a reality.
I give these examples to make the point that if you push the envelope of possibility for only fifteen minutes or an hour, you will not achieve much. Expanding the envelope of possibility takes lots of time, extreme effort, and a total commitment.
Although you may never climb El Capitan or travel to mars, you can still push the envelope of possibility every day. You can leave the Land of Impossibility behind and adopt beliefs that turn your life into a real adventure.
Every morning when you wake up you should remind yourself of the facts of life.
1. Your life is an expedition in which you increase the envelope of possibility every day.
2. You increase the envelope of possibility by pushing your limits every day.
3. What was impossible yesterday will be possible today when you get your beliefs right.
It’s time to fire up your dream machine and to spend some real time pushing the envelope of possibility. Your life will never be the same, and you will be glad you did.
