Leveling Up Our Definition of What’s Possible

I came back to OrangeBall this week from my third trip to Nepal, specifically time spent off the grid and hiking through the backcountry. Reflecting during my flight back home, something interesting struck me…

Some of the things I did on this trip would have been virtually impossible for me on the first trip. For example, I have always been afraid of heights, which has limited me in the past. Visiting Nepal in 2022, that fear was always top of mind, holding me back from time to time.

This year, with two previous trips in the bag, I had collected a handful of previous experiences in the heights. I had also done some personal work and training to break that fear down, which paid off on this 2024 trip. This year, I was able to tread in areas that would have locked me up in the past.

What was impossible before is possible now.

As it happens, a friend recommended the book The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer by Steven Kotler to me. In this book, Kotler takes twenty years of research and lays out a blueprint for extreme performance improvement. Listening to the intro and chapter one in the car this morning, this quote mirrored what I experienced on my trip.

“Very little is impossible with ten years’ practice.”

I’m not far enough into the book to unpack the full performance blueprint in detail yet, but what I do know is this: With practice, the things we once believed were impossible can become possible. Spend some time looking backward in your life, and you’ll find evidence of this over and over again. We’re constantly leveling up.

My friend Steve Blexrud shared this the other day at Breakthrough Table. “As kids, we graduate from grade school to middle school to high school. What was possible for us as seniors in high school would have been impossible for us in second grade. Eventually, though, we graduate from level to level.”

In essence, we graduate from the impossible to the possible.

This isn’t meant to feel exhausting—conversations about leveling up can sometimes feel that way. It’s simply a reminder to stretch our boundaries from time to time, pushing back against those areas that are holding us back from being our best. We all have an area where stepping outside our comfort zone will open a new door. That’s what we’re looking for here.

Call-to-Action

With this in mind, here are some questions…

What’s possible for you in this next season you’re entering?

What’s something that felt impossible in the past that feels possible today?

Where’s an area where, with some practice, you could experience a new level of possible?