As kids, our minds see very few filters. There was a time when we saw ourselves riding to work in jetpacks. We knew that when we grew up, we'd be quintillionaires with carnivals in our backyards. We knew that full course meals would be condensed into just-add-water capsules. Then we did grow up. Now most of us see those visions as little more than ridiculous fantasies. Things that only a little kid would believe in after watching too many cartoons. Some people are so broken down by what they perceive as reality, they even shut down today's children for speaking of big dreams.
And then there are the rare people who manage to keep that childlike imagination. These are the people who created a way to light up an entire house at night. These are the people who found ways to get humans flying, not just across the world, but all the way up into space, in huge containers made from tons of metal. These are the people who figured out how to shop for just about anything from home and have it all delivered to our doorstep. In the 90s, a floppy disk couldn't hold a single mp3 file. Nowadays, their much smaller successors can hold more memory than the best PCs from that decade.
If these inventors would have lost that childhood imagination in favor of the rules of "the real world," none of that would be possible. Think about it: how do any of the inventions I just described make any sense? While they were in development, they did seem impossible, and the world had turned for centuries before we had those luxuries. Friends and family told the creators that it was impossible and "don't fix what ain't broke." Strangers called them crazy and loved ones joked about them behind their backs. Now, generations of people don't know how to live without those "impossible" ideas.
Maybe you have ideas or projects that seem impossible. Maybe you have people getting on your case and making fun of your goal to be the first man to do something. The great news is, this is all part of the process. Everyone who had a great, game-changing idea went through the same thing. The ones who didn't give up paved the way for you. Some people had it so bad that they were not only called crazy, but they were put in asylums. Some high profile names went through years of rejection before making it. Such as Colonel Sanders, who was rejected 1,009 times and living in his car before opening the first KFC at age 62. Yet they got the job done in spite of all that.
Who are you to quit and deny the world your gifts just because someone else told you that you can't do something?
