Today is July 29 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you work on something others have said can’t be done?”
Successful people who navigate the chaos understand that “those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.”
George Dantzig is one such example. During his first year at Berkeley he arrived late to class. On the blackboard were two problems that he assumed had been assigned for homework.
A few days later he apologized to Professor Neyman for taking so long to do the homework since the problems seemed to be a little harder to do than usual. About six weeks later Neyman told Dantzig that he wanted to publish his paper. Dantzig was confused.
Turns out the problems on the blackboard which Dantzig mistakenly thought were homework, and therefore solved, were in fact two famous unsolved problems in statistics.
Author Roy T. Bennett wrote “Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself. Believe in yourself, your abilities and your own potential. Never let self-doubt hold you captive. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.” Dantzig believed in his potential and unknowingly solved problems that no one had previously been able to do.
He never started out to do what other’s had never done, but he did.
How often do you work on something others have said can’t be done?