Post by Ninja Chris on Aug 28, 2009 1:08:55 GMT -5
This is an article I found near the beginning of the year, shortly before I made the Salmon Ladder. I've read it often, and posted it to my wall so I could see it and remind myself of what I'm trying to accomplish.
Read it yourself, and realize how great this article truly is
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
So, there you have it! Keep those mentalities straight, and you CAN do anything!
Read it yourself, and realize how great this article truly is
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently, I was doing some work at a coffee shop when I noticed a little boy, about five or six, run full speed into the pine wood wall next to me, fall down, and put his hand over his forehead. "Aww," he said.
Then he got up, walked back about five feet, and ran full speed into the wall again. "Aww...., Aww..." he said, this time. I laughed.
He noticed my laughter and walked over to me, his hand still protecting his injured forehead. "What's so funny?" He asked.
"Do you know how to walk through walls?" He asked. "Like Harry Potter?"
"Well," I said, "I can give you some pointers."
Curious, the boy sat down on the chair across from me. His mother came over, worried... but I promised her that he wasn't bothering me. Relieved, perhaps, to have a moment of silence, she went back to her seat and flipped the pages of a magazine.
"So, you want to walk through walls..." I said. He nodded. Here's the gist of what I told him:
----------------------------------------------
1.) Make Sure You Were Born to Walk Through Walls.
Some of us were born to be painters... to communicate extraordinary amounts of meaning with a brush in our hands. Some of us were born to be orators... to touch people with our spoken words. Some of us were born to be businessmen... to create new structures that enable others to create. And still others of us were born to walk through walls. if you're going to walk through walls... you better be born to do it!
2.) Decide that nothing, including steel reinforcements, can stop you.
Being born to walk through walls isn't enough. We must decide to accept our birthright. But most of us make excuses for not accepting it. "It might give me brain damage," we say. Or, "But I have kids to take care of." Walking through walls... or doing anything that nobody's done before, requires total commitment... and the only person who can control how committed you are is you. If you're serious about walking through walls, you must decide that nothing - not even steel reinforcements - can stop you!
3.) Get to Work
While many of us decide, at some point in our lives, that we want to do our version of walking through steel reinforced walls, only a lucky few of us actually work on it. I mean, really work on it. The rest of us don't act on our decision... or, at best, we pretend to act on it. For example, there are drunk guys who've been walking into walls for years hoping that maybe one day they'll get through them. But that'll never work! To walk though walls, you'll have to read the latest in quantum mechanics and, more specifically, teleportation... and then yhou'll have to conjure next generation theories, which you'll need to test in various ways. And this kind of work - the real kind - is what enables the impossible to become possible.
4.) Let the World Know What Kind of Steel Reinforcements You're Up Against
When we're trying to walk through walls, or do something nobody's done before, life can get lonely very fast. To keep us motivated, it's important to let others know that we're attempting the previously impossible! So be shamless and tell the whole world that you're trying to walk through steel reinforced walls. Sure, it's a little extra pressure, and there will be some laughter, but it's the kind of pressure you'll need to accomplish sucj a lofty goal... and when you achieve it, you'll get the last laugh!
5.) Cherish the People that Believe in You.
When most people see you attempting the previously impossible, their natural reaction is to point, call you crazy, and tell you to "get real". But luckily, the world is also full of pioneers who see the value in your dreams... who understand that being human has everything to do with attempting impossible s**t! These are good peoplel... and you want to surround yourself with them, because they'll ultimately help you to find a way through the steel reinforcements... whether by giving you tips, an extra hand, or health insurance! Whoever they are... they are your community. Without them, walking through walls would be much, much, much harder.
6.) Dropkick the Dude Yamaha's
There will always be Dude Yamahas in the worldL the guys who tell you that it's impossible to walk through walls because it's never been done before... or who tell you that it's stupid to walk through walls because nobody cares about walking through walls anyway. When you encounter these guys... don't actually dropkick them, because that could get you arrested. But mentally dropkick them, and then forget that they exist... they aren't worth your time.
7.) Prepare for Pain... Because There'll be Lots of it.
Even though you're not absentmindedly running into walls anymore, and you're instead forming theories about the rapid dissolution and reconfiguration of quantum particles, it doesn't mean that you wont have your share of suffering. You're in the business of walking through steel reinforced walls - of doing something that nobody's done before. You'll get bruised... and you might get some brain damage. But it'll be worth it when you become the first person to solve the problems of large-scale teleportation.
8.) Enjoy the Pain... Because When it's Gone You'll Want it Back.
Nobody in real life - Harry Potter isn't real life - has ever walked through steep reinforced walls. But lots of people have done these things that weren't previously possible... and they continue to do them everyday. And these people - some of whom I've met and become friends with - will all tell you the same thing: There's no greater feeling on earth than the one you experience while trying to walk through metaphorical steel reinforced walls. So as you get knocked around - and you WILL get knocked around - remember that this is the fun part!
9.) Don't Stop Until You've Done It!
The reason nobody has walked through steel reinforced walls isn't because it's never been tried! Remember, drunk guys try it all the time... particularly after drinking a Greyhound poured by Wilford! The reason is, simply, that with today's undertanding of physics, it's impossible. But that doesn't mean that with your help it won't become possible in a few years! If you were born to do it and you want it badly enough... anything, including walking through steel reinforced walls, is possible!
Then he got up, walked back about five feet, and ran full speed into the wall again. "Aww...., Aww..." he said, this time. I laughed.
He noticed my laughter and walked over to me, his hand still protecting his injured forehead. "What's so funny?" He asked.
"Do you know how to walk through walls?" He asked. "Like Harry Potter?"
"Well," I said, "I can give you some pointers."
Curious, the boy sat down on the chair across from me. His mother came over, worried... but I promised her that he wasn't bothering me. Relieved, perhaps, to have a moment of silence, she went back to her seat and flipped the pages of a magazine.
"So, you want to walk through walls..." I said. He nodded. Here's the gist of what I told him:
----------------------------------------------
1.) Make Sure You Were Born to Walk Through Walls.
Some of us were born to be painters... to communicate extraordinary amounts of meaning with a brush in our hands. Some of us were born to be orators... to touch people with our spoken words. Some of us were born to be businessmen... to create new structures that enable others to create. And still others of us were born to walk through walls. if you're going to walk through walls... you better be born to do it!
2.) Decide that nothing, including steel reinforcements, can stop you.
Being born to walk through walls isn't enough. We must decide to accept our birthright. But most of us make excuses for not accepting it. "It might give me brain damage," we say. Or, "But I have kids to take care of." Walking through walls... or doing anything that nobody's done before, requires total commitment... and the only person who can control how committed you are is you. If you're serious about walking through walls, you must decide that nothing - not even steel reinforcements - can stop you!
3.) Get to Work
While many of us decide, at some point in our lives, that we want to do our version of walking through steel reinforced walls, only a lucky few of us actually work on it. I mean, really work on it. The rest of us don't act on our decision... or, at best, we pretend to act on it. For example, there are drunk guys who've been walking into walls for years hoping that maybe one day they'll get through them. But that'll never work! To walk though walls, you'll have to read the latest in quantum mechanics and, more specifically, teleportation... and then yhou'll have to conjure next generation theories, which you'll need to test in various ways. And this kind of work - the real kind - is what enables the impossible to become possible.
4.) Let the World Know What Kind of Steel Reinforcements You're Up Against
When we're trying to walk through walls, or do something nobody's done before, life can get lonely very fast. To keep us motivated, it's important to let others know that we're attempting the previously impossible! So be shamless and tell the whole world that you're trying to walk through steel reinforced walls. Sure, it's a little extra pressure, and there will be some laughter, but it's the kind of pressure you'll need to accomplish sucj a lofty goal... and when you achieve it, you'll get the last laugh!
5.) Cherish the People that Believe in You.
When most people see you attempting the previously impossible, their natural reaction is to point, call you crazy, and tell you to "get real". But luckily, the world is also full of pioneers who see the value in your dreams... who understand that being human has everything to do with attempting impossible s**t! These are good peoplel... and you want to surround yourself with them, because they'll ultimately help you to find a way through the steel reinforcements... whether by giving you tips, an extra hand, or health insurance! Whoever they are... they are your community. Without them, walking through walls would be much, much, much harder.
6.) Dropkick the Dude Yamaha's
There will always be Dude Yamahas in the worldL the guys who tell you that it's impossible to walk through walls because it's never been done before... or who tell you that it's stupid to walk through walls because nobody cares about walking through walls anyway. When you encounter these guys... don't actually dropkick them, because that could get you arrested. But mentally dropkick them, and then forget that they exist... they aren't worth your time.
7.) Prepare for Pain... Because There'll be Lots of it.
Even though you're not absentmindedly running into walls anymore, and you're instead forming theories about the rapid dissolution and reconfiguration of quantum particles, it doesn't mean that you wont have your share of suffering. You're in the business of walking through steel reinforced walls - of doing something that nobody's done before. You'll get bruised... and you might get some brain damage. But it'll be worth it when you become the first person to solve the problems of large-scale teleportation.
8.) Enjoy the Pain... Because When it's Gone You'll Want it Back.
Nobody in real life - Harry Potter isn't real life - has ever walked through steep reinforced walls. But lots of people have done these things that weren't previously possible... and they continue to do them everyday. And these people - some of whom I've met and become friends with - will all tell you the same thing: There's no greater feeling on earth than the one you experience while trying to walk through metaphorical steel reinforced walls. So as you get knocked around - and you WILL get knocked around - remember that this is the fun part!
9.) Don't Stop Until You've Done It!
The reason nobody has walked through steel reinforced walls isn't because it's never been tried! Remember, drunk guys try it all the time... particularly after drinking a Greyhound poured by Wilford! The reason is, simply, that with today's undertanding of physics, it's impossible. But that doesn't mean that with your help it won't become possible in a few years! If you were born to do it and you want it badly enough... anything, including walking through steel reinforced walls, is possible!
----------------------------------------------
So, there you have it! Keep those mentalities straight, and you CAN do anything!
