You Say It’s Not Possible, But You’re Dumb

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It’s been a little while since I’ve jotted down my thoughts to you folks.  I spent a number of days at the International Psychology Conference, where I gave a lecture entitled, “Regaining Things In Your Life That You Stupidly Lost.”  You see, when we’re young and we haven’t been burdened with all of society’s limitations of what we can achieve, we tend to reach far and, in many ways, accomplish quite a bit.  Over time, people continue to tell you what you can’t do.  If you’re older, you can’t be as active.  If you’re married, you can’t have great sex.  If you have kids, you can’t have fun like you used to.  Rather than challenge any of these assumptions, people for some reason agree with these rules.

Folks, that’s not only stupid, it’s dangerous.  When you agree to a stupid rule about what you can’t do, it’s like putting a sippy cup lid on the elixer of life.  All of those rules will be proven to be true, because the person who set about proving them true will be you.

Now, I’m sure you consider yourself a practical person, and you may be saying, “Dr. Matt, that sounds all nice and dreamy, but I really CAN’T do some things.”  First of all, stop being so difficult.  Secondly, you’re likely hyperfocusing on specific details that you may have found difficult, and you haven’t looked at the big picture of what’s possible.

The Paralympics just ended in Vancouver, and I’m sure many of those people had crushing moments where they realized there was one specific thing that they could not do.  Yet I bet dollars to donuts that they were subsequently able to achieve something that surprised even them.

You think what you’ve lost is possibility, but what you’ve likely lost is ambition.  Ambition is what creates possibility.  Ambition is what turns someone like J.K. Rowling into a successful author, and lack of ambition and lack of confidence leaves others as frustrated, yet eloquent, writers of corporate memos.

It’s time for you to challenge the notions of what is actually possible for you, because it’s a hell of a lot greater than what you may imagine.

Don’t worry if you don’t believe me now.  I’ll be sure to repeat it on a regular basis when I start my weekly appearances on the Ellen Degeneres show.

Just My Thoughts,
Dr. Matt*

* Dr. Matt is not a real doctor.