Be Outrageous: Do the Impossible: Others have and you can too!

Introduction

You, Too, Can Do The Impossible Discover and Achieve Your Dream

When I was a young girl, I went to the public library every week. I loved to read. I was very specific in my choice of reading material: always biographies or autobiographies of successful and/or famous people. I was searching for something. How did they know what to do? How did they accomplish their great feats? I was fascinated with the idea that an ordinary farmer, printer, housewife, or even child, could make dramatic differences in their culture, nation, or world. It still fascinates me.

What I have discovered along the way is that each person has a calling in his soul, something that he is designed to do and something that speaks to him specifically. In all the thousands, perhaps millions, of people I have had contact with in my years of counseling and coaching, instructing businesses, and teaching the masses, I have learned this: There are no ordinary people. Everyone has greatness within. Every person can choose to follow that call or let fear or self-doubt block the way. It is an individual decision. Yet, when one is called to do something or play a role, that person does not rest well until they respond to that impulse.

When I researched success as a child, I found Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams, exceedingly resourceful and inspiring. She worked with what she had and hung her laundry on ropes rigged in the Oval Office. Can you imagine anyone getting by with that today? Resourcefulness—using what is available—has always been one of my favorite qualities. Being outrageous is another. I follow with some outrageous stories of people who accomplished the seemingly impossible.

Doing the impossible means different things to different people. Someone might think being a millionaire is impossible, and thus a great accomplishment. Another individual may want to bring clean water to an African village or supply books to children who have none.

Mohandas Gandhi was painfully shy. The idea of standing before people seemed impossible. Yet, he had a passion that required it. His desire to share his idea of non-violent resistance to British rule, which dominated India, drove him in front of audiences again and again. This calling brought this shy, humble man out of obscurity to being credited with his country’s ultimate freedom over British rule.

Mother Teresa brought a loving heart to the indigent in India and won the attention of the world. Her mission and vision was to aid the poor and sick. In the process, she helped thousands, perhaps millions of people through the charities she established in numerous countries.

Others, like Sam Walton, possessed a drive to bring reasonably priced merchandise to rural communities. He started with a store in Bentonville, Arkansas, his hometown. From there, Wal-Mart became a national leader in merchandising, and Walton became a billionaire.

Joy Mangano is a more current example of setting a vision and accomplishing it, despite blocks and obstacles along the way. Mangano is an inventor. She did not have training to be an inventor, nor was she trained to be an engineer, for that matter. What she had was inventiveness, relentlessness, and determination. In her role as a housewife, she was creatively inspired to develop laborsaving devices. The first one was the Miracle Mop. She knew that housewives would want it for its clean design and sophistication. She pushed forward relentlessly until she was on national television, selling her mop to a major audience. She has since developed numerous other laborsaving devices and products while becoming a millionaire many times over. Presently, there is a movie outlining her story. It is called JOY, which happens to be an apt description of this powerhouse.

Dealing with naysayers is a small part of the process. The most intelligent, creative people in history have had naysayers. A legendary example is inventor Thomas Edison. His teachers said that he was too stupid to learn anything. He did not agree. His conclusion was, I never failed. He knew that each experiment he conducted led to the next and the next, and it would all end in the discovery he sought. In his mind, there were no failures. He needed each step to reach his ultimate success.

Someone pointed out to Edison that he had failed ten thousand times in developing the storage battery. Edison responded that he hadn’t failed. I just found ten thousand ways that won’t work. His belief was that he failed his way to success. Even the disadvantage of deafness, which would have stopped many others, did not seem to faze him. By the world’s standards, he was capable of little. Yet, he found his own methods of self-education and innovation, using them to patent over 1,093 inventions.

Abraham Lincoln was also brilliant and ambitious, even though he possessed little formal education. His determination led him to read by the light of a candle so that he could self-educate. In many people’s estimation, he was a failure because he was unsuccessful in business several times, had a nervous breakdown at twenty-seven, and lost eight times in his attempts to win a government office. Yet, Lincoln did not let these losses deter him. He followed his conscience and values and has since been deemed one of the greatest presidents to serve his country. I am quite sure he would say that all of those attempts were necessary to build his mental muscles and create the power of leadership he demonstrated.

Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland, Disney World, and a massive motion-picture industry, also failed many times before he made it big. In his formative years, he was fired from a newspaper job because he lacked imagination. Fortunately, Disney did not accept that pronouncement. He was not even discouraged when he went bankrupt several times. He had a vision and was determined to bring it to form. He stated, It is kind of fun to do the impossible.

Then, there was Babe Ruth, the homerun king and the strikeout king as well. Does anyone remember the strikeouts?

Of course, no one can deny that a poor black girl raised in Mississippi by her single mother and her grandmother, a maid, achieved the seemingly impossible when she was given her own television talk show. Later, Oprah Winfrey developed a cable network and became the first black female billionaire.

There are inspiring people in every avenue of life, people who followed their inner voice and accomplished amazing things.

This book is about these kinds of outrageous individuals who set out to follow their dreams and then ended up doing the impossible. Perhaps you can catch glimpses of their thinking and drive. Perhaps you will identify with some of them and be reminded of your outrageous dream and decide to go for it.

The idea is that you have the same stuff that they do. With their stories and the principles outlined in this book, I hope to inspire you to discover your calling and pay attention to your fantasies, knowing that they are in your mind as a gift from the Universe. Through this recognition, you will be able to give birth to the glorious life you were meant to live. Perhaps, in that way, you can do what might seem impossible today. That is my hope for you.

Every person has a unique idea of what the impossible looks like. One person wants to help sick children, and another, like Bill Gates, wanted to put a computer in every home. We march to different drummers. As we listen to our hearts, we discover our impossible dream. This I know for sure: whatever you dream, you can achieve because you are never given a dream without having the ability to fulfill it. Never!

This book is to give you the keys to uncovering your seemingly impossible dream and to manifest it. I wish you great success in your journey.

When I examine myself and my methods of thought,

I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy

has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing

positive knowledge.

Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

When one links job satisfaction to financial

compensation, they are never paid enough. Yet, when

they see work as a way to dance with life, meet new

people, and unleash the creative tiger within,

they become very rich indeed.

Mike Dooley, Notes from the Universe

Chapter One

What Is Your Impossible Dream?

We discover that doing the impossible is a relative term. For one person, achieving a college education may seem outrageous, given the circumstances, while for FedEx Founder Frederick W. Smith, establishing a worldwide delivery service was his impossible dream.

The important thing is to not second-guess your dream, because with the accomplishment of one goal, you will have grown the muscles and drive to move to the next. The main thing is to accept that there is no randomness in what you seek. Your desire comes from your soul and it is valid and achievable. It was doable for the people mentioned in this book and it is attainable for you as well.

Crossing boundaries, going for your dream, and saying No to limitation, that is the key. We all have it in us. We can do the things we have fantasized because dreams are not random. They are specialized and individualized.

My dream was to change the world by empowering people and bringing them hope. I have done that through counseling, coaching, teaching, psychic readings, and writing for over thirty-five years. Someone else’s aspiration, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, to be exact, was to be a movie star and millionaire. Another person, author-teacher Mike Dooley, wanted to travel the world. Both accomplished their goals. The point is that your dreams and ambitions are specifically designed for you, and you would not have them without possessing everything you need to accomplish them.

It could be that being outrageous is simply breaking societal rules. I have heard the story numerous times about the six- or seven-year-old child who is instructed to confess his sins. (I ask you, what sin can a child this young commit?) Yet, it is an assignment. These children are to peruse their minds and come up with a sin, and if that isn’t bad enough, they have to confess it out loud to a big, powerful adult authority figure. It is scary because having a sin and confessing it is a required activity. The children don’t want to come up short and blow the assignment.

To fail this task is to endure disapproval from a high church official. Many pass the test by lying, by making up sins. It is all they’ve got, and you have to admit it is a creative way to get through it.

The bottom line is that the child is taught to focus on what they have done wrong. The indication is that they better admit something and come clean or they are in big trouble.

This mental exercise has created many guilt-ridden, anxious people because, as children, we place great faith in the adults who instruct us. It may take years or possibly never for individuals to break free of the fear that they are sinful beings. In the meantime, while they worry about that, they are not focusing on their creative talents and brilliance. This crazy exercise is just one example of how a person can lose track of what they came into this world to experience. Of course, there are many others.

This chapter is about discerning your dreams and eliminating anything that has gotten in the way of their fulfillment. By doing this work, you will regain the momentum to recommit, take control, and move forward in your quest. Your job is to unravel the confusion and to adjust your life projectory, so that you unquestionably trust yourself and all that has been given you in order to live the amazing life for which you have been designed. If you have to dump a negative program along the way, so much the better. So let’s get on with it.

There are many wonderful stories in this book to help you identify your desire. Perhaps you will relate to some of the people or connect with their journey. Perhaps you will remember what it is that you have always felt and wanted. Or possibly, you will be inspired to come up with a new idea.

It is important to remember that your dream is the right one for you. It has emerged from deep within you. Dreams are selective and specialized, perfectly formulated to work with your exact talents and abilities. You were designed for them and they for you.

Academy Award movie director Spike Lee said, I didn’t find film. Film found me.

That is how it works. The idea is to lower your resistance and let your dream find you. Generally, that means letting go of fear, old irrelevant mental programs, and limiting tribal beliefs, so that you can brazenly take steps to move in the direction of your dream.

An old saying is: For every step you take, God takes two. In other words, the Universe supports you and helps you find your way. The common element in every achiever is focus. They focus on what they want and they walk toward it. Sometimes they fall down along the way. But they always get up more times than they fall down, and through persistent effort, they reach their goals.

I had a client, Helene, who had diligently studied for her real-estate exam. She wanted to get her license so she could sell real estate and support her family. She knew the material and understood real-estate law, but she froze when taking the test for her license and, consequently, failed to pass. By the time she came to me, she had failed the exam several times. You might say she had test-anxiety since she routinely forgot everything when under the gun to complete the test. I ultimately made an autosuggestion audio tape which Helene listened to diligently. It helped her relax, see herself answering the questions correctly, and excitedly receiving her license.

Once Helene replaced her old program of fear and incapacitation with a new positive one that registered her ability, and then accepted her vision of selling real estate, she was on her way. That is when she made her breakthrough. Her mental program of I-don’t-believe-I-can-do-this was