“It can’t be done” is never the truth

What people really are saying when they utter these words is: “I don’t how how to do it.”  Or, “it can’t be done the way we’ve always tried in the past.”  Or, “it can’t be done according to the only way I can think of doing it.”

Here’s why “it can’t be done” is never an accurate statement, no matter what you are referring to

It is impossible to know anything, for certain, about the future.  Given what we know we might be able to make reasonable predictions about the future, but we never know everything that might be relevant. Moreover, even if we did, things change all the time, making things that might have been very difficult yesterday relatively easy today

Many things that were considered impossible years ago have since happened. In fact, most “things” that exist today would have been considered impossible to someone living a couple of hundred years ago: airplanes, automobiles, television, space travel, heart transplants, and even indoor plumbing.

Actually we don’t have to go back that far. The personal computer, the Internet, video Skype calls to and from anyplace in the world (free), and cell phones would have been considered impossible even 50 years ago.

Any yet we are certain we are telling the truth when we say to others (and to ourselves): “It can’t be done.”

Steve Jobs Regularly Did The Impossible

Doing more of what we did yesterday isn’t very difficult.  Even doing things a little differently or a little better isn’t very difficult.  A lot of people do more, different or better every day.  But doing something that has never been done before, that most people think is impossible isn’t that easy.  It takes guts.  It requires us to ignore the naysayers and not fear failure.  Unfortunately most of us are all too willing to accept “it can’t be done” both from others and from ourselves.

Steve Jobs didn’t accept it.  Ever.  He transformed several industries (including mobile phones, the record business, and the personal computer) because he never accepted “It can’t be done” as an answer.  And he heard that answer a lot because he was always asking people to do things that had never been done before.  He insisted that it (whatever “it” was) could be done and, more often than not, the people who had told him that it couldn’t be done did it.

There are literally hundreds of examples of this from his career. One involves “gorilla glass,” the special glass used to manufacture the iPhone screen. As Walter Isaacson tells the story in his riveting biography of Steve Jobs: “Jobs decided it would feel much more elegant and substantive if the screens were glass.  So he set about finding a glass that would be strong and resistant to scratches.”

Isaacson relates how a friend of Jobs told him about a glass that Corning had invented many years before that was exactly what he was looking for, but the company had never manufactured it.  So Jobs went to visit the CEO of Corning, Wendell Weeks.

After Weeks told Jobs about the “gorilla glass” his firm had developed, Jobs said that he wanted as much as Corning could make within six months.  Weeks responded: “We don’t have the capacity.  None of our plants make the glass now.”

Issacson writes that Weeks “tried to explain that a false sense of confidence would not overcome engineering challenges, but that was a premise that Jobs had repeatedly shown he didn’t accept.  He stared at Weeks unblinkingly.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Jobs replied. ”Get your mind around it.  You can do it.”

“As Weeks retold this story, he shook his head in astonishment. ‘We did it in under six months,’ he said.  ‘We produced a glass that had never been made.’”

The Lefkoe Belief Process—Possibilities

Some years ago after doing a lot of work in organizations I concluded that the most damaging belief in organizations was “I (or we) can’t ….”  So I created a simple revision of the Lefkoe Belief Process that organizations could use to help employees quickly and easily eliminate “I can’t …” beliefs.  Here is a link to a post I wrote that provides the actual steps of the LBP—Possibilities.  https://www.mortylefkoe.com/get-rid-of-the-belief.

Creating Breakthroughs Can Be Fun

Many of us agree that we need breakthroughs in most of the important areas of life.  In other words, what we are doing now doesn’t really work in government, in our educational system, in providing affordable health care for everyone, etc.

But breakthroughs, by definition, are something new, something that didn’t exist before.  You won’t create a breakthrough if you only do things you know how to do.  Unfortunately, for far too many people, anything that hasn’t existed before is considered impossible.

Breakthroughs always come for me when I try to do something I’ve never done before and that I don’t know how to do.  I love to make promises that I don’t have any idea how I will keep, and then figure out how to keep them.

I did that with the first non-facilitated product we created. A friend of mine, Denis Hann, said to me that I would never really make a broad impact in the world if we only helped people eliminate beliefs in one-to-one sessions with people I had trained.  No matter how many facilitators we trained, we’d never reach millions of people.

I agreed, but I had no idea how to create a product that would help people eliminate beliefs without a live facilitator.  Denis said he would provide funds for a new company to create such a product if I could create it.  It took over six months, but with the assistance of my wife Shelly and Denis’s friend and associate, Leszek Burzynski, I created a DVD product that helps people totally eliminates their fear of public speaking without a live facilitator

I also remember reading in a book about a fascinating distinction between reality and how reality occurs for us.  I realized that most people never make that distinction between what actually happens in the world and the meaning we automatically and unconsciously give reality.

Shortly afterward I said to my staff: I’m going to create a course that will teach people how to make this distinction all the time and then easily and totally dissolve the “occurring” (the meaning we give reality).  When they asked me if I knew how to do this, I replied, no, but I expected it would be a lot of fun figuring it out. (I did figure it out and the first course was a total success.  We’re now in the middle of the seventh Lefkoe Occurring Course and the results improve every time we offer it.)

Good News and Bad News

I’ve got good news and bad news.  The good news is that it is never true that “it can’t be done.” The only questions are how and when.  The bad news also is that it is never true that “it can’t be done.”  It’s bad news because people have just lost one of their best excuses for avoiding action.

If you really want to make a difference in the world and have fun doing it, commit to achieving some goals that seem impossible—that you don’t know how to accomplish—and then figure out how to achieve them.  If you do that you’ll change the world and have a lot of fun doing i.

Please leave your comments and questions here about today’s post. I read them all and answer as many as I can.

If you found this post useful, please tell your friends and followers by using the buttons at the top of this post.

If you haven’t yet eliminated at least one of your limiting self-esteem beliefs using the Lefkoe Belief Process, go to htp://www.recreateyourlife.com/free where you can eliminate one negative belief free.

For information about eliminating 23 of the most common limiting beliefs and conditionings, which cause eight of the most common problems in our lives including a lack of confidence, and get a separate video of the WAIR? Process, please check out: http://recreateyourlife.com/naturalconfidence.

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copyright ©2011 Morty Lefkoe

24 Comments

  1. […] Originalartikel „It can’t be done“ ist auf seinem Blog mortylefkoe.com […]

  2. Jean Valter Lautaro Sena Tristant November 29, 2013 at 1:51 pm - Reply

    I got one for you Morty.

    THe world is about to wake up to the soul selfe.

    ANd we did it.

    From that point on. Sky is the limit and well… thats just saying there wont be a limit. See you soon.

  3. mayuk November 27, 2011 at 12:58 am - Reply

    Morty
    what is the difference between a belief and a conditioning ?

    best regards
    Mayuk

    • Morty Lefkoe November 27, 2011 at 2:37 pm - Reply

      Hi Mayuk,

      A belief is a statement about reality that we feel is the truth. This is the way reality is. Iam …. People are …. Life is ….

      Conditioning is a process where something gets conditioned to produce a specific response. For example, you can condition being rejected to cause fear, or being told what to do to produce anger.

      I have several blog posts of beleifs and conditioning. See https://mortylefkoe.com

      Love,Morty

  4. Rachel November 16, 2011 at 2:32 am - Reply

    Thanks for the reply Morty

    I love my parents very much, but there was a lot of violence in our house growing up. It never felt safe to be just me, there was so much else to think of.

    My mum is an amazing lady and my dad is not a bad man but did bad things when he was drinking. I have come to terms with that and I know they did the best they could with what they knew and what support was available at the time.

    They also both strive to help me so much now that I am an adult, so it was such a relief to discover that unconscious belief and to eliminate it. It is outdated and actually not true! I am sure I will discover more residual beliefs as I go along, but I feel able to deal with each one as it arises.

    Thanks again for everything you are doing Morty. I for one appreciate it so much.

    Love Rachel

  5. Rachel November 15, 2011 at 5:44 am - Reply

    Hi Morty

    I would like to share a discovery I have made.

    I have had a truly fantastic week (as my previous posts explain). Another belief that came up for me was “I do not deserve to succeed”.

    I have been working on this one this morning and as I was working through it the damn burst. I realised that “I do not deserve to succeed” was really “My PARENTS do no deserve for me to succeed”.

    Wow, I couldn’t deny it’s truth for me because I cried like I was a child, It just burst forth.

    I feel very definite that I have worked through this one today and I feel kind of free and light.

    I am interested to know if this is a belief you have come across before?

    Many thanks again for being such a guiding light
    Rachel

    • Morty Lefkoe November 15, 2011 at 11:21 am - Reply

      Hi Rachel,

      I’ve never herd the belief the way you put it, but I have had clients who blamed their parents for what was wrong in their lives and wanted to fail to prove to their parents how bad they (the parents) were. If they succeeded they would be letting their parents off the hook.

      Love, Morty

  6. orrie November 14, 2011 at 9:21 am - Reply

    Morty,
    Im in the process of trying to eliminate the belief of mistakes and failure are bad. Im stuck though. I cant remeber at all any experiences from my childhood that might have planted that seed in my mind. I cant remeber anything with my parents, absolutely nothing. Is that a requirement? What should I do?

    • Janet Robinson November 14, 2011 at 11:07 am - Reply

      It seems that it’s not what our caregivers say to us that implants a belief. It’s how they are. That is a very subtle difference. So remembering the exact way that we learned something is difficult. We generally believe what our parents believed. So let’s start from what we believe and put Morty’s system to the task of changing it.
      Thanks again Morty.

  7. Lauren November 9, 2011 at 7:58 pm - Reply

    I heard “You can’t…….”(fill in the blank) from the time I could remember from my parents. Since I eliminated the limiting beliefs of the Natural Confidence DVD and took the Occurring Course last year, my life has become better and better. This year I walked a 6K, have incorporated the Blood Type Genotype guidelines into my life and am losing weight, working through The Master Key System(am on Lesson 4),have lost all traces of nervousness when talking to people, and have increased my ability to stand up to people who want to use me as a doormat. I am also exercising regularly. So if the words “It can’t be done” or “You can’t do that” pop into your life either from you or other people, know that it is only ONE truth and not THE truth. I feel blessed that someone like Morty challenged the assumption that limiting beliefs take a long time to get rid of and feeling inspired enough to create the Occurring Course even though he didn’t know how he was going to do it.And I second Alex: I love this post!
    Love and Light to everyone on the Journey,
    Lauren

  8. Owen November 9, 2011 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    Morty,

    You’re so right, as usual. But I think there can be times when “It can’t be done” is accurate: When the people you work with say “It can’t be done” and shut down the idea. For their own reasons and because of their own beliefs. That’s frustrating! Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers had to do it on their own because no one else believed it could be done.

    • Morty Lefkoe November 9, 2011 at 4:24 pm - Reply

      Hi Owen,

      I can understand why you have the point of view you do, but I respectfully disagree. There are always people telling you that what you want to do it impossible, including bosses.

      But all you know for sure is that on a given day, the day you asked you were told no. You don’t know if you’d get the same answer on a different day, or if asking a different way might get you a different answer, or if having someone else ask might get a different answer, etc.

      The people Steve Jobs worked with, including outside suppliers, told him constantly that what he wanted couldn’t be done. And after he urged them on, they managed to do what they had considered impossible.

      Most breakthroughs are accomplished after many people have said they couldn’t be done and have done all they could to keep it from being done.

      Love, Morty

      • Owen November 10, 2011 at 2:32 am - Reply

        Morty,

        Now I’m going to respectfully disagree with you. I’d guess you’ve never worked for the people I work for. They might not use the words “it can’t be done” but might say “we’re not going to do that”. The administrator where I currently (but not for long) work is a control freak who will shoot down the best ideas – I know, I’ve made suggestions as to how things could be done better. So I guess what really can’t be done is get her to agree to anything she didn’t think of. :-)

  9. Alex November 9, 2011 at 10:41 am - Reply

    Loved this post.

  10. Rachel November 9, 2011 at 5:50 am - Reply

    Just to add on to my above post. I followed your links and have eliminated “I am not important” I also watched on and truly am blown away by the video about who I really am.

    I mean it Morty – you’re probably all still asleep over there and meanwhile I am here 4 hours after posting the above and my world has changed.

    I mean it.

    Thank you so much for commiting to helping others. What a difference you have made for me.

    :-)

    • Janet Robinson November 9, 2011 at 6:37 pm - Reply

      Well done Rachel! I love it when someone has an epiphany. Thank you again Morty for the great post and the opportunity to talk to and support each other in our journey.

  11. Josie November 9, 2011 at 5:39 am - Reply

    Yes, Joseann, I agree with your closing statement; that’s it!

  12. Josie November 9, 2011 at 5:36 am - Reply

    Thank you so much, Morty, for yet another wonderful, inspiring article, and to Rachel and Michael for your comments. I, too, have been feeling down lately with all the negativity and boxed thinking surrounding me. But I keep reminding myself that those are other people’s misery and not my own. Deep inside, my heart knows that anything and everything is possible. It is just so hard to stand upright against the common beliefs if the populace without getting bent in some way, that’s the only thing. Since it’s the majority way of thinking, it sort of over-powers and gags, so I need to train myself to withstand it and keep my upbeat attitude, because, in the end, this is what wins!
    Much love,

  13. Justin | Mazzastick November 9, 2011 at 5:12 am - Reply

    So very true Morty. I have lost the idea of things being impossible to get done. It’s all about figuring out how to do it and trusting that it will get done.

  14. Joseann November 9, 2011 at 5:02 am - Reply

    Hi Morty, thank you for this post and the one you refer, where you show the steps how to do it. How would this process go with “non-technical” issues?
    Reading your post I found that I have a lot of “I can’t” with respect to different issues. In your process you ask “what do you have to do to make x happen?” So I realized that behind this “I can’t” is always a ” I don’t want to do x” which again is caused by a fear like “if I would do x in order make y happen, I would get hurt” or anything else unpleasant would happen.
    So I guess these fears would be the answer to your third question “what’s in the way of you doing that” that I then would have to overcome how? Eliminate beliefs concerning certain things I have to do and the meaning I give to them? “like fear of rejection in the selling process” for example?
    I guess I am asking how I can use this process for a personal “I can’t” when it is not about technical innovation but past “dreadful” experiences that are connected to certain actions.
    And I think it is important to mention that, in order to achieve the impossible, there needs to be a really strong passion or wish behind it? I mean, the impossible thing needs to be really important for somebody, like it was for Steve Jobs, so there is enough energetic push to overcome the obstacles. I think, when people say “I can’t”, it often only means that they don’t want to bother with it as it is not so important to them, does it?

    • Morty Lefkoe November 9, 2011 at 4:42 pm - Reply

      Hi Joseann,

      Yes, there clearly can be a bunch of beliefs that can get in the way of us taking action. There usually are.

      And the statement, It can’t be done, still is never true. Maybe it can’t be done given the beleifs I have, but as soon as I eliminate the beliefs I’ll be able to do it.

      Love, Morty

  15. Michael C November 9, 2011 at 4:15 am - Reply

    First, to Rachel above:

    Rachel, do yourself a favor – go to Morty’s FREE page at: http://www.recreateyourlife.com/free and eliminate a belief you have about yourself for free. The belief “I’m not good enough to succeed” is one you’ve probably been living with for a long time – but you can eliminate it in minutes FOREVER. And for free! Not too shabby.

    Next, to Morty:

    I’m working my way through my beliefs, eliminating them one at a time and I want to thank you for taking on the challenge of presenting your program to the world. I owe my current clarity, focus and productivity to your courage in taking on what you did not yet know how to do.

    To everyone else: It can be done! Like the shoe company says, “Impossible is nothing.”

    • Rachel November 9, 2011 at 5:52 am - Reply

      Hi Michael

      Have just seen your post, have added another post below about how I have eliminated a belief today.

      Thank you Michael for taking time too.

      Isn’t great to make a discovery like this?

      :-)

  16. Rachel November 9, 2011 at 3:38 am - Reply

    Hi Morty

    Wow! I have been feeling so so down this last week. I am going through a feeling of complete apathy, hopelessness and sadness.

    I want to be a successful writer and I have been trying so hard to find a mentor and to learn new the things I need to know to succeed. I am a positive person most of the time, but occassionaly I feel this way.

    The internal battle goes like this: I can’t do it (but inside I know I can) but outside “I CAN’T DO IT” (major internal battle BUT YOU CAN!!!) etc etc It stems from years of being a square peg in a round hole. I have broken out of that mould, but still have that feeling of “I’m not good enough to deserve to succeed”. And a paralysing fear of disappointment.

    In this post you wrote something that hit me between the eyes and stopped me in my tracks:

    “Doing more of what we did yesterday isn’t very difficult”

    God but that is so so true. I need to make little changes each day, what CAN I do, What WILL I do, When will I do it?

    Thank you Morty

    I feel better for reading your post, way better :-)

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