The new year is right around the corner, and I know all of you are about being badass Rebels who go after amazing things in your lives. So, I’m asking you to do one thing on this episode: Set impossible goals for 2022.
Now, you might be wondering, “Why would anyone do that? Why would I set myself up for failure, to work towards something that’s never going to happen?” I’ve been met with this resistance over and over again, but the hard truth is that telling yourself you’re not going to go after an audacious goal because you might be disappointed if you fail is not doing you any favors.
Join me this week to discover why I believe impossible goals are so worth chasing. They are the biggest growth opportunities you have, and while I know you might be swimming in overwhelm and the likelihood of defeat right now, I’m showing you the only thing you need to maybe, just maybe, crack open the door of possibility in your mind.
We’re kicking off 2022 with a free challenge that’s going to give you the kick in the pants you need. Every day for one week, from December 29th to January 4th, I’m giving you small steps to add to your running routine so you can get off on the right foot and reestablish your runner identity in the new year. Click here to sign up!
If you enjoyed this episode, you have to check out the Rebel Runner Roadmap! It’s my 30-day learn-to-run class where I get you set up to train for a 5K! It starts on January 18th, so click here to join the waitlist!
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
- The two definitions of “impossible.”
- Why you should set an impossible goal.
- What you’ll get out of setting an impossible goal.
- Why something being impossible is just an optional thought.
- The only thing you need to crack open the door of possibility.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
- If you have any questions you’d like answered on the show, email me at podcast@notyouraveragerunner.com
- Join the Not Your Average Runner Private Facebook Community
- Not Your Average Runner Instagram
- 14 Peaks – Netflix
Full Episode Transcript:
Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who has never felt athletic but you still dream about becoming a runner, you are in the right place. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running and life coach, and I teach women how to start running, feel confident, and change their lives. And now I want to help you.
Hey, rebel, hey, how you doing? So last week I taught a class to my Run Your Best Life community about setting goals for 2022. And actually, it was not just setting goals, it was setting impossible goals. And you might think well, that sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Setting yourself up for failure by picking a goal that’s not going to happen. Why would somebody do that? It sounds really dumb.
So today we’re going to dive into exactly why you should sign up for an impossible goal and what you’re going to get out of it. And the first thing we need to get straight here is that impossible is just a thought. Okay, and stay with me. It’s just an opinion, it’s not a circumstance. It’s not factual, not at all.
I even looked up the definition and the first one that came up was incapable of being or of occurring, not possible, right? Well, that does sound like the definition of impossible. But the second definition in the same thing, on the same site was very difficult. So clearly there is a discrepancy. Does impossible mean literally not possible, or does it mean just really difficult? Or does it mean really unlikely? Which is it, Merriam Webster? You’ve got to decide.
So I actually think there really are two kinds of impossible. And the first kind includes things that are not possible according to the laws of physics. Like if I’m sitting in a chair, it is impossible for someone else to occupy the exact same position in space and time as me on that chair.
They could sit in the chair later. They could sit next to me in the chair while I’m in the chair. They could sit on my lap. But both of us can’t have our butts touching the exact same spot on the chair at the same time. It is impossible according to the laws of physics as we know them today.
But most of the stuff that we call impossible is actually more like we don’t just believe in it yet. We think, “Oh, yeah, that is never going to happen. It’s highly unlikely.” Or we think it’s hard enough that I don’t even want to try, impossible. It’s impossible, I don’t want to bother. So impossible is a belief. It’s a thought, it’s an opinion.
I’m going to tell you a couple stories to illustrate this point and don’t at me if I get some of the details wrong, I’m not a fucking historian. The gist of the stories is accurate, okay?
So we’re going to travel back in time to 1899, 122 years ago. And two guys started playing around with the idea that maybe they could build a gasoline powered flying machine that people could actually ride in and leave the earth and be up in the air and come back down again.
And up until then there were gliders where you’d get in the glider and you’d ride gusts of wind until you drifted back to the ground. But everybody thought that engines were way too heavy to be in a plane. And I don’t even know if they used the word plane, but they would be too heavy to be in a flying machine, that it wouldn’t be able to get off the ground, blah, blah, blah.
So people thought these two dudes were just delusional, but they kept working at it. And four years later, 1903 the very first gasoline powered flight took place. Okay, it was a rickety ass plane but it flew for 100 feet. It got 852 feet in the air, it was in the air for like 27 seconds or something. And the Wright brothers essentially proved to everybody that gasoline powered flying machine, not impossible.
And how did they do that? Well, it started with them not accepting the belief that it was impossible. They had to think differently. So they were like, “Maybe. Maybe this is a thing we could do.” So instead of having the thought, “Oh, that’s impossible,” they had the thought, “Maybe.”
And they probably also had the thought, “Oh, for sure we can do this, we just need to figure it out.” Which is an amazing thought, I can totally do this, I just need to figure it out. But they definitely started with maybe. Hmm, maybe this is a thing we could do. All right, so they didn’t have the thought that’s impossible. So they were able to make it happen. And it gets better.
So now I want you to fast forward 58 years. And for those of you in your 50s, you know exactly how short of a time that is. 58 years, boom, that goes by in a flash. So 1903 the first gasoline powered flying machine flies. 58 years later, 1961 the first spaceflight happens. Yuri Gagarin, I’m totally butchering this man’s name, I’m sure, of the USSR, he made one orbit, one entire orbit around the Earth in some sort of spaceflight machine.
So we went from flying a rickety airplane for just 27 seconds to orbiting the fucking Earth in 58 years. That’s really fast. I’m 54, right before I was born is when this happened. Like it blows my mind. And so President Kennedy, JFK was president at the time, saw that and he said, “Hmm, okay, you know what would be great? If somebody from the USA could walk on the moon.” Like fly there in a rocket, land, get out of the rocket or whatever, the capsule. Set foot on the moon, walk around, take some pictures, grab some samples, get back in the rocket and come home. Like what?
So 58 years before we’re barely able to get a plane off the ground and he’s like, “Yeah, let’s just go to the moon.” And he’s like, “Oh, by the way, it’s going to happen within the next 10 years.” How did people not say, “Okay, clearly the President is not fit for duty if he thinks this is going to happen.”
But guess what? 1961, eight years later, it happened. Eight years later it happened. And to make matters even more interesting in 1961 we did not have rockets. Yeah, the USSR had the technology to put somebody in the air to orbit. But the US did not.
We did not have rockets. We did not have spacesuits. We didn’t have any way for them to exist outside of the spaceship and not die from the lack of air. We didn’t even have computers small enough to put inside the rocket. Our computers were fucking huge.
So 1961, no rockets, no spaceships, no computers that would fit inside the rocket. And he’s like, “Within 10 years, we’re going to walk on the moon.” We had 10 years to invent this stuff, test it, troubleshoot it, fix problems. And you know how this story ends, right? Because it didn’t happen in 10 years, it happened in eight. In 1969 humans walked on the fucking moon.
Now go back in your mind to 1899 where the Wright brothers are making their very rickety flimsy planes that could only fly for 27 seconds. And somebody comes up to you and points at the moon and says, “Yeah, someday we’re going to walk on that.” You would pee yourself laughing.
You’d be like, “No, that’s impossible. Look how far away it is right? It’s not going to happen.” You’d be like, “Physics, it’s the laws of physics. We can’t do that.” And yet, here we are. And most of you listening cannot remember a time when humans had not walked on the moon. That’s your reality, is that walking on the moon is possible, right?
I was two years old when it happened, I don’t remember watching. Apparently, I watched it. I was probably, I don’t know, sleeping or something. But I was two years old and to me, my reality is that walking on the moon is just a thing that people can do and have done more than once. In my mind it’s not impossible, it’s just a normal thing.
So that’s what I mean when I say impossible is just a thought, because someone at some point in the last 100 years had to think, “Hmm, maybe it’s possible to walk on the moon.” They had to shift from, “no way that’s not going to happen” to “maybe.’ And that is all you need. You just need maybe. Maybe this is a thing I could do. Maybe this could happen.
Maybe is a magic word because it cracks open the door of possibility. And when you think the thought, “This is impossible,” you feel what? Defeated or overwhelmed, or frustrated? And when you feel those emotions, what do you do? You give up, most of us give up.
But when you think maybe, suddenly your emotion shifts from defeat to curiosity, or optimism, or even excitement. And from those emotions you start taking action towards making the impossible become real.
So think about all the impossible things that have been achieved in running, like the four-minute mile. Okay, for decades, maybe even longer than decades, I don’t know, as long as people started timing their runs people used to believe that four minutes was the absolute fastest a human could ever run a mile.
And then in 1954 Roger Bannister ran the first recorded four-minute mile at Oxford University, sub four-minute mile, it was like three minutes 59.9 seconds or something. It was just a hair under four minutes and it was recorded. And people had been trying to break this barrier for decades. And guess what? So Roger Bannister ran it, two months later somebody else ran it even faster.
And since then, over 1400 people have recorded a sub four-minute mile. Because once it happened, suddenly it opened up a whole new thought to runners around the world. They went from, it’s impossible to run faster than four minutes per mile, to maybe it’s possible. Oh, look, it’s possible. And then boom, it happened. All right.
Same thing in mountain climbing. I just watched this show on Netflix and it was called 14 Peaks, in which a Nepalese man climbed all 14 peaks that are higher than 8,000 meters tall, which is insanely high. Okay, they’re all in a certain region of, I think, China and Pakistan and Nepal, I guess. And he was going to climb all 14 of those peaks within seven months.
All right, so most people, if they’re going to go climb Mount Everest, and Mount Everest was one of the peaks, it takes them about two months to do it. He’s like, “No, I’m going to do 14 in seven months.” He called it project impossible. And prior to that, the record for climbing all 14 of these peaks by one person, and again that includes Mount Everest, was 16 years. 16 years. And he’s like, “No, I’m going to do it in one climbing season.”
And he did it. And he actually did it in six months and six days. So, impossible, just a thought. Maybe. Maybe is the space that you want to start to move into. But there’s this little question you might have, why would you even want to do this? Why would you want to set a goal that’s impossible? And here’s an example.
So let’s say I wanted to play in the WNBA. And I’m a 50-year-old woman, I’m only five foot, four inches tall, I’m chunky. It is highly unlikely that even if I trained my ass off that I’d ever play in the NBA. I mean, is it impossible? Well, stranger things have happened. But yeah, it’s pretty high up there on the unlikeliness scale.
But if I trained my ass off to win a spot on the team, what would happen? If I set that goal and said, “All right, I’m just going to go all in. I’m going to train my ass off.” Well, if I did that, I’d probably get really good at basketball. I’d probably improve my eye hand coordination, increase my vertical leap, my strength, my reflexes. I’d learn a lot about strategy, and teamwork, and thinking on my feet. I’d probably blow my own mind about what my body can do.
And someone in Run Your Best Life even pointed out, “Hey, you might become a sports commentator, you might end up with a whole new career.” So even if I didn’t make the WNBA, the byproducts of me working towards this impossible goal would be enormous, life changing. And that is why I think impossible goals are totally worth chasing, because of the person you become.
All right, so I have one more thing that I want to address today, and that is the disappointment factor. Because what if you set an impossible goal, to say qualify for the Boston Marathon, and you work, and you work, and you work, and you work and you don’t qualify? And you’re like, “Oh great, now I have to be disappointed.”
Well, first of all, you don’t have to be anything. If you don’t make your goal, you get to choose what you think and feel about it. And yes, you might choose disappointment. I mean, when I didn’t finish my marathon in 2019 I sure as shit felt disappointed. Because I was thinking wow, I really wanted that. I trained for it. I wish things had gone differently. But the difference is that I knew I also had lots of other thoughts available to me and I chose to think those as well.
So yes, there was disappointment. There was also pride and joy, because I thought, wow, I trained my ass off for that race and I showed up in a whole new way. And I learned what I’m capable of, I blew my own mind on some of those training runs. And yeah, I got a raw deal with the weather, but I still made it to the half marathon mark. Oh, and I’m proud of my decision to pull myself off the course at that time because I prioritize my health and safety. Instead of saying I’m just going to keep going, even if it kills me.
And you know what else? There’s always another marathon, there’s always another time to try again. So yes, there will be times when you set an impossible goal and you fail. But you’re not required to feel any sort of way about it. You get to choose; you can just look at the failure. Or you can look at the big picture and decide what to do with all of the information.
Telling yourself you’re not going to go for a big audacious goal just because you’re worried you’re going to be disappointed, that is not doing you any favors. Because spoiler alert, you might actually succeed. And if you don’t, it’s okay. You’re not going to succeed at everything in life. Nobody does.
Well, except the people who don’t try anything new and different because they don’t want to fail. They succeed at everything. And it sounds to me like they probably live a very boring life. Because if you spent your whole life only doing things you were 100% sure you could succeed at, you wouldn’t learn how to walk or feed yourself. You’d never take a test in school, because guess what? You had to learn new things to master all of that. And I’m pretty sure you didn’t do it perfectly.
So impossible, my friend, is just a thought. And it is also the biggest growth opportunity you’ll ever have. It’s another way of saying I don’t believe I can do it. That’s what impossible is. It’s basically equal to I don’t think I can. But I know that that’s not you. I know you’re brave and ballsy, and yes, you might not be 100% in belief of your ability right now. But even if you’re just 10% there, if you’re in the space of maybe, you can accomplish amazing things. Okay? Okay.
Now, in January I’m going to be opening up the Rebel Runner Roadmap. And if your impossible goal for 2022 is to start running, to get back into running, or even train for a race, that’s where you’re going to want to be. But in the meantime, I’m going to kick the year off with a seven-day free challenge to help you move from impossible to maybe.
Every day for a week I’m going to be teaching you easy bite-sized skills so you can establish your runner identity and get off on the right foot. It starts on December 29th. You can sign up for that challenge at notyouraveragerunner.com/challenge or head to the show notes and click the link there. That’s notyouraveragerunner.com/challenge or head to the show notes.
All right, my rebels, I hope this has been a helpful episode for you. If you liked it, please share it on Instagram. Let people know. I love you. Stay safe. Get your ass out there and run.
Oh, and one last thing, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, you have to check out the Rebel Runner Roadmap. It’s a 30 day online program that will teach you exactly how to start running, stick with it, and become the runner you’ve always wanted to be. Head on over to rebelrunnerroadmap.com to join. I’d love to be a part of your journey.
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