1438: This Is What Happens When You Try To Do the Impossible by James Altucher on Business Creativity

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[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_01]: This is Optimal Work Daily.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_01]: This is what happens when you try to do the impossible by James Altucher of jamesaltucher.com.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Daniel was tending sheep in Sudan when a bomb blew both his arms off.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: When he heard the bombs in the distance, he had hidden behind a tree but wrapped his arms around the tree.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: A bomb went off near the tree and his body was safe.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_01]: But the arms he had wrapped around the tree blew off.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: When he came to, he said he wished he were dead so he would not be a burden on his family.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: He was 12 years old.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: I was ashamed to be talking to Mick Ebeling.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's why.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: When I hear the story I just read about Daniel, I think, that's really sad.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I wish that hadn't happened to him.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm glad it didn't happen to me or anyone I know.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick thinks differently.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick flew over to the Sudan without any knowledge of arms or war or prosthetics.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: He got together a bunch of experts on 3D printing, prosthetics and mechanics.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_01]: He 3D printed arms for Daniel in a way that had never been done before,

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_01]: cheaper than prosthetics had ever been made before.

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Daniel now has two prosthetic arms.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: He can feed himself.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: He can help his family again.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I spoke with Mick yesterday.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I told him I was ashamed to be talking to him because I would not have thought that way.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: He laughed and told me his theories on helping people.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: His company, Not Impossible, ignores high-stakes situations where people say it's impossible

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and figures out how to make the situations possible.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's how.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: A. Help one, help many.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: He used his experience with Daniel to come up with ideas on prosthetics that could help many people.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: He helped Tempt, a graffiti artist, use a machine Mick developed

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: to create art again and communicate with people again.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Then he uses the experiences of helping one to create products that can help many.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_01]: B. Bring ridiculous to accessible.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: It was ridiculous to get cheap prosthetics to Daniel in the Sudan without any experience.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And yet, just a little brainstorming with the right experts gave Daniel arms.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And now the same technology is accessible to anyone.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: C. Use story.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Intel sponsored Mick's efforts.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: He went to Intel and told the story of Daniel and told the story of how he was already helping

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Daniel with or without Intel, and Intel agreed to sponsor the rest of the journey.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: For 5,000 years or longer, humanity has driven forward with storytelling.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Too many people forget that, but the only way to really communicate effectively is through story.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_01]: D. Everyone has permission.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody gave Mick permission to help Daniel, he just did it.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody gave him permission to gather a bunch of experts to his house to help

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: figure out how to create prosthetics that everyone said were impossible, he just did it.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Too often we apply for grants or we apply to a company or we apply to the government,

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and then we wait.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And we wait.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And we want that one special person to choose us.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I hate to use my own cliche, but the benefits of choosing yourself

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: is that other people's lives are saved while you avoid waiting for someone else to choose you.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: E. We're already doing this.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick didn't wait to begin, he didn't wait for funding,

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: he didn't wait to figure it all out in advance before he started.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: As soon as he committed to helping Daniel, he immediately

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Found the experts he needed to talk to, free

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Got them all talking, mostly free

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Started brainstorming, free

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Got materials for one set of arms to be 3D printed, mostly free

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And began experimenting, also mostly free

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Then he went to Intel and others and said,

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: We're already doing this. Are you in?

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Too many people say, I have an idea, now I need funding.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't do that anymore, stop it.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Instead, say, I'm already doing this.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the 10 or 20 things I've done so far.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the results. Are you in?

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: F. Change the definition of failure

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_01]: People think, go go go go go, fail, stop.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick redefined failure.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: He said,

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: We had many failures while trying to figure this out,

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_01]: but each failure was simply a way to show us what we should do, what we could do better.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Every time we failed, we knew at least one thing we could do better.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: G. Open source your success

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: For everything Mick did, even though his company is for profit,

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: he gave away for free all of the knowledge he learned.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Then other people and companies could build better prosthetics, or tools for deaf people,

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_01]: or tools to help people with ALS communicate.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Then Mick would be able to incorporate those new technologies back into his products.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: The end result?

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_01]: More people helped with better and better products that were being made cheaper and cheaper.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Too many people try to hold on to ideas, saying, it's mine.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: But ideas, and the world, get stronger when they're allowed to share,

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and mate, and grow children, and the idea babies make the world better.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: H. Look for the adjacent possible

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick started his research, he found someone who had made a mechanical hand.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Not the perfect prosthetic hand, but a cheap hand that could grasp items and be functional.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_01]: He started with that, and then began brainstorming with the inventor,

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: and with others, about what else is possible, given that a simple mechanical hand was possible.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Never start with a blank page.

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Find all the things closest to what you want to be possible,

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and use those ideas as starting points to find the next generation of possible.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I. Start small

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick didn't help a billion people have better prosthetics, he helped one person.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_01]: He says, if everyone would just help one person today,

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_01]: then the world will be a better place tomorrow.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: In other words, if everyone reading this article would help one person today,

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: the world will be a better place.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Always think at the end of each day, who did I help today?

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: J. Stand next to the smartest people

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Mick didn't know anything about prosthetics, but he knew that if he brought together the man

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: who made the cheap mechanical hand, with experts in 3D printing, with experts in prosthetics,

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: then something good could happen.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Even if you aren't an expert, give yourself permission to be a producer.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Produce.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_01]: After the podcast, Mick and I took a walk, and I told him some stuff.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_01]: How are you dealing with that? he asked me.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I said, every day, I follow my own advice.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I try to be healthy, I spend time with friends, I'm creative every day,

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and I look at the most difficult part of my situation every day and find things to be grateful for.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_01]: This has been amazing for me to see it work in action for myself.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I bounce back stronger every day, and I feel like life is amazing.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: You should write about that, he said.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I will.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I said, selfishly, I help one, me, to help many.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_01]: He laughed at that, and we shook hands, and then I went one direction,

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: and he went to save the world.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Just listen to the post titled,

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_01]: This is what happens when you try to do the impossible by James Altucher of jamesaltucher.com

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_01]: We're all marveled at how quickly kids learn and that sense of wonderment they have while doing it,

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_01]: but as adults, sometimes we lose that curiosity.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, if there's something you've been wanting to learn,

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[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: learning new skills, and ultimately becoming the best version of yourself.

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[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Now a little bit about James.

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_01]: He's an entrepreneur, writer, investor, trader, and podcaster.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You could call him a jack of all trades,

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: which many entrepreneurs actually are, and maybe you can relate to that as well.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And on his podcast, he has interviews with a bunch of talented people like

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Tony Robbins, Mark Cuban, Tony Hawk, and many more.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Again, that podcast is called The James Altucher Show.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, it is always in the top charts in the business category of Apple Podcasts for good reason.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: He's also written a bunch of books, and you can find all of them at jamesaltucher.com.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: That's going to do it for me today.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Hope you have a great weekend if you're listening in real time,

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'll catch you in the Sunday show tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.