I bet this is a list you wouldn’t think is useful. What’s the point of making a list of impossible things?
I first read about the idea of an Impossible List on Thomas Frank’s blog, College Info Geek. He, in turn, learned about it from Joel Runyon and adapted the principles to his own life.
A top-level goal might be running in the Boston Marathon. But you’re not going to just be able to cross that goal off without chunking it down into steps that will get you there. If you’re a new runner, the first thing you might nest under that is completing a C25K program. And then running an 8k. Then a 10k, a half marathon, and so on until you qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Every new bullet under “Run the Boston Marathon” is a step that takes to closer to completing it.
The idea isn’t to list things that are actually impossible but instead to think about what kind of stretch goals in your life you’d be thrilled to achieve.
Ever since reading about Frank’s Impossible List, I’ve toyed with the idea of creating my own.
Fear Held Me Back
Fear of publishing a list of personal stretch goals for which I’d be held accountable—a public record of things I want to do, things I’ve done, and things I haven’t yet achieved.
That kind of exposure can feel scary and risky, but this blog is about doing the scary things anyway.
This list is a living, evolving piece of content, ideally updated once a quarter, or when I get around to it.
One Step Further…
Taking this idea one step further is pursuing something called an impossible goal. One thing that’s so big, so scary, and makes me nauseous enough that achieving it would mean amazing things for my life… And will also open the door to doing other impossible things.
Stay tuned… Big things are coming.