If you had nothing to compare what you thought was possible with what you had already done, what do you think you would be capable of?

For the most part, our entire view of existence is based on relativity. The problem with relativity, however, is that it is based on our experience so far — not what is actually possible.

“Impossible is just a big word that is thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world they’ve been given rather than explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It is an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It is a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing!” Mahammad Ali

Take the outcome of this race, for example.

This may be one of the most powerful videos I’ve ever seen. Keep in mind this is a championship race — they are all top-tier racers. What this athlete does is simply amazing; almost unbelievable. But what is even more thought-provoking is the fact that she obviously had the potential to win the race by at least a half a lap had she not fallen, but without having fallen and NEEDING to unload her maximal untapped potential to regain her spot, it likely never would have been unleashed.

Think about what the woman in that race would have thought had someone come up to her before the race and told her, “Did you know you are physically capable of winning this race by half a lap?” It would have sounded like a pretty impossible claim, right? But when she was put in the position she was in, her beliefs no longer ran the show.

What does heavy mean to you? What is fast? These things only exist relative to something else; say, your one-rep max or a previous PR. Often we determine what is possible based on evidence we already have and what we’ve already done. You would have to be out of your mind to be in a race among your peers, who are all purportedly of approximately equal speed, and think you could blow them all away by half a lap. But your mind will play tricks on you. Your mind loves relativity. So being literally out of your mind is exactly where you want to be to see the impossible become possible. That is when it becomes possible to do things like lift a car to save a life.

People are always getting stronger, running faster, jumping higher. Look at the world record for the 100-meter dash. In 1964 it was 10.06 seconds. A couple years ago Usian Bolt grabbed it with an impressive 9.58 seconds. In the world of the 100-meter dash, that’s a huge difference. But if you look at the record, over time it was slowly broken, over and over again, by about .04 seconds or less. If a human was capable of doing it in 9.58 seconds, why did it take 50 years to get there? Some would argue training advancements and the like, but I would argue because with every record breaking speed, the belief of what was possible was slowly pushed farther and farther. Making a jump of .5 seconds has most likely always been possible, but not many people would believe such a thing. Simply put, it’s easier to believe you can run .04 seconds faster than a full .5 seconds. This can go for anything. Running faster or lifting more, to be sure, but also look at how the X Games or freerunning have advanced over the last 10 years. People perform feats of strength, grace, power and agility now that were only imaginable in a video game a few years ago.

Think about this. If you didn’t know how much weight was on your bar, relative to how much you perceived your personal max weight to be, how do you think this would change your perception of how heavy it is? And how do you think it would change if you truly thought there was much less than there really was?

What is possible may only be limited by our own imagination and regulated by the relativity of what has already been accomplished. What could you be, what could do, if you threw relative possibility out the window and wrote yourself a new paradigm?

We create our paradigm, then our paradigm creates us. It is not about your potential, it is about accessing it.

“Miracles happen, not in opposition of nature, but in opposition to what we know of nature.” St. Augustine.

Impossible is only a suggestion.

[Photo credit here.]