A few years back, Adidas had the campaign "Impossible is nothing."
I loved the commercials for many reasons, not least among them that Haile is one of the greatest distance runners of all time. Where am I going with this? What really gets me are the responses: It's impossible, OR It's too easy. I feel like I hear those responses too often. The big picture is that there is this unwillingness to struggle intellectually. The other piece is the unwillingness to push beyond what is provided, and seek out other solutions.
Things can certainly be easy. The challenge is often in taking them beyond the basic level, which sometimes needs to be done independently. I think back to Haile, the runner in the video (a person I look up to), and wonder whether he said "that is impossible." I'm sure trying and failing led him to that response initially. But what was it that made him persist until he ultimately broke his own record (9 times over)? How do I help instill that in my kids?
Awesome commercial!
ReplyDelete"People are not supposed to break their own world record 9 times. That's impossible, right? But you know, I hate to lose..."