Those who accomplish the impossible have a vision past what the eye can see, past even their own lifetimes. Think about some of the business pioneers that we would call visionaries. Henry Ford saw a better way to manufacture, when he envisioned the assembly line. Howard Hughes saw cross-continental travel. Ray Kroc conceived the concept of fast food. Sam Walton first imagined discount retail. Steve jobs and the founders of Apple dreamt up the personal computer and Bill Gates saw an operating system to make using a PC simple for everyone. What all these men had in common was a massive vision that they then dedicated their lives to making a reality.
“Where there’s no vision, the people perish.”
— Proverbs 29:18
It is one thing to start a business with the goal of making money or beating the competition. It is another thing to have a vision that challenges traditional thinking by seeing what doesn’t exist. The founders of Apple and Microsoft saw a world where everyone would use a personal computer at a time when computers cost tens of thousands of dollars and were the size of a refrigerator.
“You can’t predict the future, but you can follow your dreams.”
— Jay Van Andel
Of course, those who do the impossible don’t just have a massive vision; they implement that vision to make it a reality. I’ve worked with people who have a vision but are not willing to take action. I used to work with a gentleman who was the greatest public speaker I have ever met in my life, but he never took action; he only talked about taking action. I’ve also met people who are willing to work hard but who have no clue what they are working hard for.
I can remember my struggle to find the right church to join when I first moved to Los Angeles. I will never forget the first service I attended at the Shepherd of the Hills church; I knew I had found my church home. The person who spoke on that day was Pastor Dudley Rutherford. It didn’t take me a long time to make a decision that I wanted him to be a close friend and mentor in my life. In less than twenty years he was able to take the attendance of that church from only a few hundred to thirteen thousand members with the help of his leadership team and his awesome wife, Rene. Pastor Rutherford is now getting ready to build a facility that holds 3,500 people. This comes as no surprise to me because I have come to know him as a visionary who does the work required in order to fulfill the vision.
Part of having a massive vision means achieving your goal and then aiming for the next one. A massive vision doesn’t end; it evolves. It grows as you grow and you grow as your vision grows. Think about Apple. They didn’t stop at the Apple II and say, “Well, we created the personal computer. I guess we are done here.” Apple’s vision for personal computing has kept growing for the last thirty years, which is why we now have the iPad 2 and not simply the Apple II.
“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”
— Japanese Proverb
Over the past fifty years, hundreds of direct marketing businesses have come and gone, but Amway has remained one of the most successful businesses of all time. The reason that Amway has become the largest and longest lasting direct marketing organization goes back to the fact that its founders, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, started with a massive vision. They were big advocates of free enterprise with a dream of empowering individuals with business-ownership and a shot at “the American Dream.” I’ve never been part of Amway nor have I had a relationship with the founders, but I’m extremely impressed with how they created a new kind of entrepreneurship opportunity that became a model for many other successful direct marketing companies.
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
— Winston Churchill
Have a massive vision and you can accomplish that vision. Have a small vision and you will achieve small things.
Action Item:
1. Do you know clearly what you want out of life? _______
Action Item:
2. If yes, list five things that you want out of life.
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Action Item:
3. How important is it to you for these things to become a reality? The answer to this question could dictate whether or not history will be kind to you.
Law 18
Keep the Faith
Faith is the ability to look beyond the reality of current circumstances and believe in a future that cannot yet be seen. All of the great ones throughout history have shared a high level of faith. For some, that faith is based on spiritual beliefs; for others, it is simply the ability to feel confident in the outcome before the results are in. Faith lets us believe in what will happen in order to make it happen.
People of faith inspire faith in others. We like being around people with a strong belief in the future. People with a high level of faith tend to create a big following. We look for leaders who share their belief with us that great things will happen.
“Faith: A strong or unshakeable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence.”
— World English Dictionary
People with a lot of faith are most needed when we go through challenging times. I remember being in Army boot camp. I was the only Middle Eastern private in the unit. Boot camp was some of the toughest weeks of my life. A typical day started at four in the morning with a ten mile run and 500 push-ups. Afterwards we would sit in a classroom that was heated to 115 degrees; if you fell asleep you would be shouted at by your drill sergeant and have to run four miles and then return to class. Some days we would have to march fifteen miles in uniform with fifty pounds on our backs while carrying a semi-automatic machine gun. An adventurous day might include a trip to the gas chamber for us to experience how it feels when your skin is burning and you can’t see or breathe. (I’m sure by now you’re inspired to join the Army or encourage your kids to enlist.)
It wasn’t easy, and I struggled a lot during those weeks. One day, our drill sergeant announced that the five privates with the highest physical training score would go to a weekend men’s camp. To us, anything off the base was a vacation.
The men’s camp turned out to be a Christian camp, and there was a gentleman there who shared with us from the Bible. I couldn’t wait for him to finish so I could go play billiards or visit the lake. I had never been a big man of faith. Growing up in a war-torn country, having to leave our family behind, and struggling through poverty all made me doubt that there could be a loving God who would allow such things to happen.
On the last day of camp, when we were getting ready to leave, the gentleman gave me the Bible that was given to him when he was not yet a believer. He encouraged me to read the Bible and pray. He said, “Life hasn’t been the best to you, but maybe it’s because God is planning something really special for you and he’s trying to toughen you up.” That man planted a seed of faith in my life, first by making me believe that everything was going to be alright and then by making me consider that something great could happen.
I believe the highest level of confidence comes from knowing that a higher power is with you throughout your entire journey. That faith has allowed me to accomplish things that I never thought possible ten years ago.
Those who do the impossible eventually develop such a high level of faith that they simply know that everything is going to be as they imagine. It’s like the stars are aligned in their favor or God is on their side. It’s not something that can be explained unless you’ve experienced it. It’s the high level of certainty that they have. They simply believe they’re destined to do something incredible in their lives and they’re confident that everything will work out. Even when things don’t go their way, they look at it as a challenge given to them to make them grow.
Action Item:
2. What are three things you’re willing to commit to in order to increase your level of faith in yourself and life?
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Law 19
Be Bold
Those who do the impossible are famous for doing things that many would call crazy. They’re called too risky, out of control, impulsive, or nuts. But the critics are often the people who don’t have the guts to make bold moves themselves, people who are now looking to justify their own unadventurous path. This is where the great ones separate themselves from the pack: What others call risky they see as pioneering.
If you take an inventory of your life, you will find out that we all are where we are due to a handful of major decisions we made at certain stages of our lives. The day-to-day decisions are important as well, but our lives are charted by major decisions. Most of us can remember all of our life-changing moments. Here are some that I can think from my own life:
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
— George Bernard Shaw
November 28, 1990: The day our family finally made it to America, a day I’ll never forget.
March 27, 1997: I made the decision to join the US Army. That decision has influenced a big part of my life.
April 21, 2004: I made the decision to become a born-again Christian. I finally felt a huge burden lifted off of my shoulders. I learned how to take support and guidance from a Higher Power.
June 26, 2009: My sweetheart and I got married. That was the fastest day of my life.
September 25, 2009: We decided to start People Helping People (PHP) with a group of courageous young leaders who wanted to make an impact on America, at a time that it was needed the most. PHP is a financial services company with a mission to help restore America by teaching basic financial fundamentals to people from all walks of life.
I probably have several other decisions that were important as well, but not ones that will dictate the rest of my life. Have you ever taken inventory of the biggest decisions you’ve made in your life? How did they turn out? Did you take the easy path or the tough one? Why do you think that is? It’s not just about having the courage to make bold decisions, but also the dedication to follow through with those decisions, win or lose.
I’m a believer of running your big decisions by your mentors or trusted advisors. Your sounding board needs to be people whom you respect and those who have proven their ability to pioneer their own bold moves. Too many times I see people who have the capacity to do something really special in their lives take council from those who are afraid and indecisive.
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte
We are not guaranteed tomorrow. People die every day in unexpected and sudden ways. Whether you meet your Maker tomorrow or fifty years from now, wouldn’t you rather be on your death bed knowing that you gave it all you had instead of taking the easy path?
“You must be single minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided.”
— General George S. Patton, Jr.
I challenge you to make the bold moves that you know deep down inside you need to make to do the impossible. There is of course no guarantee that everything will turn out the way that you plan, but what’s more painful than living the rest of your life with the burden of what if?
Making bold moves is not about being reckless or impulsive (although some may call you that); it’s about making your decisions wisely with trusted council and then taking the leap into uncharted territory. Odds are that some of your life-defining decisions have already been made. You can’t change the past; but with boldness, you have the opportunity to shape your future.
Action Item:
Write down five bold moves you’re going to make in the next ninety days. The key is to be very clear and specific.
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Law 20
Embrace Your Frustrations
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
— Winston Churchill
Many of the people we’ve discussed in this book were extremely frustrated with an aspect of their lives at some point. Whether it was being frustrated financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, or with an issue in their personal relationships, frustration challenged them to snap out of where they were and change. Whatever you don’t hate, you will learn to tolerate. While many people don’t like their jobs or their financial situation, those who do the impossible usually hate their current circumstances. They can’t stand not having their vision become a reality. It eats at them until they figure out how to turn frustrations into fuel for their fire.
“I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of thinking that I now enjoy.”
— Tony Robbins
Frustration is a negative emotion, but it is often the source of positive change. Think about how often frustration with the way things are leads to invention, innovation, and inspiration. Many great new ideas come out of frustration with the status quo. Frustration can be a great source of motivation.
“Change will come ONLY when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
— Dora Lee Scott
Losing weight is difficult for many people; but when someone gets frustrated enough with the way he looks, or the way his clothes fit, or the health effects of being overweight, that person does what it takes to drop the weight. Often times the frustration of not having enough money motivates someone to take a leap of faith in his career or as an entrepreneur. Vision is imagining the future that you want to create, starting with the things that you want to change.
Everyone will become frustrated by something at some point in life, probably many times. Many people will simply complain about their frustration or accept it as a fact of life. It is up to you to be the kind of person who uses your frustration as inspiration to change your circumstances. Those who do the impossible conquer their frustration, not the other way around.
“When the grapes are grown the winemakers purposely stress them out by depriving them of water and giving them an overabundance of sunshine. This weeds out the weak ones and only the strongest and best survive. And those are the grapes that make the finest wine.”
Action Item:
1. List current situations that frustrate you.
2. Score them from one to ten on the level of importance.
3. What’s the solution in order to change the situation?
Law 21
Fight Adversity like Muhammad Ali
I first learned about toughness from my dad. I remember being a child in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. We lived in fear of the sound of alarms that warned of impending bombs. Those were some of the toughest years in the lives of the Bet-David family. My mom was the one who would bundle us up under the stairs when the alarms went off. But my dad was like a general in war: His face and his voice let us know that he wouldn’t let anything happen to us. He told us everything would be alright, and we believed him, because he was the toughest man we knew.
I remember heading for a safer city (in our stylish white two-door Renault) as the bombs dropped behind us in Tehran. On the way, we were crossing a bridge and we heard a huge boom behind us. Like any father, my dad told us to not look back. Like any children, we looked back anyway and saw that a huge bomb had dropped fifty yards behind us and left nothing but rubble it its wake. To this day, my sister and I talk about how we can hear that awful explosion and see the destruction just yards behind us as if it had happened yesterday.
I think that day was the end of it for my mom, the day she decided that we had to get out of Iran and come to America. The toughness and resilience that my parents had to have to get their family from war-torn Iran to the United States is something that gave me personal insight in
to toughness. My parents’ toughness is the reason that I am here today, in America, writing a book on doing the impossible. They showed us how to do the impossible in our own lives by setting the example and doing the impossible for our family.
“For a tree to become tall it must grow tough roots among the rocks.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
“When we have nothing to worry about we are not doing much, and not doing much may supply us with plenty of future worries.”
— Chinese Proverb
Sports give us great examples of toughness and playing while hurt. Think about Kirk Gibson hitting the winning home run in the 1988 World Series and limping around the bases with his injured leg. Remember Curt Shilling with his famous bloody sock beating the New York Yankees in the 2004 quest for the pennant? How many boxers have won their bout with one eye swollen shut and a cracked rib?
When it comes to sports, business, leadership, and life, the great ones are tough: They learn to play while hurt. Being tough means playing through physical pain, emotional stress, and all the difficulties that life drops on us from time to time. It also means playing through the doubts of others and the harsh words of critics.
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”
Doing The Impossible Page 6