Vishen Lakhiani reads from The Buddha and the Badass on why impossible is just an opinion. He argues that bigger visions are actually easier because they align with a higher intelligence that supplies resources when you commit to them.
Chapters
So I have these two beautiful pieces of art on vision and goal setting inspired by Muhammad Ali that I'm about to hang on this wall. I want to show you something. This particular picture is actually signed by Muhammad Ali. I'm a big fan of Muhammad Ali because of everything that he stood for. But one of the most interesting things about Ali was this quote which is often attributed to him. Actually, this quote is from an Adidas ad. Ali never actually said it, but it was inspired by him. And you've heard it before. Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing. This ad, Impossible is Nothing, one of the most inspiring ads I've ever seen. And in chapter seven of the book, I dedicate this chapter to this idea. Now, I want to read you an opening quote from this chapter, because a lot of people look at the word impossible and they think, that's not for me. It's too hard. I can't get there. And that's because the way we think about goal setting is to look at where we are right now and then to think step by step by step and to try to estimate what our potential could be. But that's not actually how the Buddha mind works. In the book the Buddha and the Badass, I talk about how all of us have an inner Buddha. We all have a spiritual core. Muhammad Ali had that core. You have that core. It's the same essence, it's the same power. And that spiritual core can move you towards goals that you once never thought possible. But to activate that, you must understand one truth. And I want to read you the opening quote of this chapter to give you a glimpse of this truth. There is no greater experience than to live your life working to achieve a vision so bold that it scares you. Any vision you commit to should be so inspiring that you stay up at night as it pulls you and flirts with you. Now, here is the big secret. The bigger your vision, the easier it gets. When you live this way, you may find that the vision is not coming from you. Instead, the universe is choosing to go through you to realize what the world needs. The essence of this chapter is that your vision doesn't come from you. You can tap in, you can tune in, and you can understand what the soul of the world needs to experience. And Then raise your hand. Raise your hand to be the person willing to bring that vision into reality. When you read this chapter, you understand that the bigger the vision, the easier it gets. Because the vision doesn't come from you. It is assigned to you and it flows through you. Imagine the soul of the world, or higher intelligence of God, or whatever you want to call it as a boss. If a boss assigns something to a member of his team, do you think the boss is then going to be incentivized to make it hard for that member of the team? No. The boss wants to see that manifest. So the boss will give the members of that team the right resources, the right budget, the right tools. It's the same with the soul of the world. When you tap into the visions that the soul of the world wants to create and you raise your hand, your boss is going to give you everything you need. And this is how impossible happens. What I seek to do in this chapter is to give you a method and a pathway to do that, to move from small goals to bigger goals. And when you do this right, what you find is that the bigger the goal, the easier it gets. You can get the book from mindvalley.com Buddha badass and I hope this idea inspires you to expand and elevate and think more boldly about the goals you're setting for yourself.
