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What do you think about impact of the phrase 'nothing is impossible if you work hard enough' ?

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  • DebLaBounty
    DebLaBounty Posts: 1,172 Member
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    Okay, the Op asked in the question, subpart 3, whether the statement is helpful for those who exercise. At the time I set my goal to start running and get in good enough shape to run a 5K, the goal seemed to me to be ALMOST impossible. I'm 57 years old, and was sedentary, overweight and have had a torn meniscus and Achilles a dozen years ago. So the idea of beginning the task seemed insurmountable. And stupid and ill-advised. But I sometimes thought of this ridiculous cliche, and it helped me persevere. I did the work even when I wanted to sit at home on my a**. Sure, I could have re-injured myself and not achieved my goal so maybe it would have been arguably impossible for me. But after 4 months of training and losing weight I ran a 5K.

    It's a simplistic saying and I'd never say it to someone else because it is so fraught with blaming someone for "not really trying", but it worked to motivate me.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,542 Member
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    WorkerDrone83 wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    WorkerDrone83 wrote: »
    Whoa, I never called anyone a lazy quitter. If someone took personal offense to that comment in the context it was used, that's telling for them.

    The phrase isn't "Nothing is impossible if you want it hard enough."

    I'm not disputing that some things are no longer possible for individuals. But it's likely they were or could have been, if the effort was truly made.
    Okay, so do you think Daniel Ruetigger could have been a professional NFL player if he worked harder than he already did to just make an "appearance" on the Notre Dame football team?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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    Lol. Rudy!
    I don't know anything about Rudy other than that he was a hobbit. Did he want to be an NFL player? It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I thought it was just his dream to play for Notre Dame, which he did.
    His dream to play, but he wasn't put in because of his "athleticism" but because of the soft heart of the coach. Had that been a game to go to a championship and they were just barely leading, he would have NEVER sniffed the field. So while he did bust his butt, it didn't raise him to the same athletic level as even the backups on the team.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited November 2017
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    jseams1234 wrote: »
    clicketykeys wrote: »
    lisawolfinger wrote: »
    I think it is, at the core, the same...he can do anything he wants to do...he just has to think outside the box...rather than narrowly define some of the words of the phrase.

    So... you can do anything you want to do... as long as you redefine "ANYTHING" to mean "things that are actually possible for you to do."

    Which ... kind of completely defeats the purpose of the cliche ;D

    I think the general assumption is that "anything" doesn't include such feats as holding your nose, farting a rainbow and flying to the moon...

    Okay, let's say it excludes things that are physically impossible for humans.

    It still means ANYTHING, and that assumes we aren't just talking about going to college and having a job (which, great, but to then call the rest of us underachievers for acknowledging that we will not win the Boston marathon or play quarterback for an NFL team is pretty silly and, indeed, offensive -- I went to college and beyond and have a job and am not breaking my arm patting myself on the back quite so hard and insulting others).

    I think it's great to encourage people to do things they genuinely want to do.

    I ALSO think it's important to help people work toward realistic goals and understand if they want to try for something really difficult that (if we are talking about a kid wanting to be an NBA player) they need a backup, and if we are talking about someone trying for lower likelihood goal (qualifying for Boston, say, or becoming a published novel writer or getting a job with a professional orchestra or clerking for the Supreme Court) that you are NOT a failure if you try really hard and don't succeed and that it's not just that you are some loser who didn't try hard enough, and that if you had really worked you would have gotten what you wanted because you can do anything you want to do.

    Sometimes people aim high, try hard, and end up not getting exactly what they wanted but something pretty darn good. Doesn't make them a failure, and the snide "underachiever" from someone who did not even try for those things, perhaps, is not helpful. And not acknowledging that different people have different natural abilities and starting places is also not helpful.

    I am willing to acknowledge that for some people graduating from college is a huge deal and success. It absolutely is, it's great (even though it seemed more like a necessary stepping stone than a particularly hard goal for me). I just wish that those people would acknowledge that other people similarly might face different burdens than they did or have desires and goals that cannot be certainly achieved with just hard work -- they might also require a level of natural ability or luck.

    I'm not saying don't try -- I think aiming for risky hard unlikely goals (real ones) is fabulous and admirable. But part of why they are risky is that they are not certainties, no matter how hard you work, and to say that if you don't succeed at those things, well, you just didn't try hard enough or really want them is not true and is, IMO, rather mean-spirited.

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