The Impossibility Factor: The Paradox That Fuels Possibility
Why impossibility is not an end point, but an invitation.
What seems impossible at first glance often holds the key to our greatest breakthroughs. Because possibility doesn’t deny impossibility; it transforms it.
When Van Phillips lost his leg in a boating accident at 24, he was told to “accept his situation.” And he did. But only partially. He accepted being an amputee, but he refused to accept the clumsy, limited prosthetics of his time. That refusal led to the creation of the curved carbon-fiber blade now used by athletes and everyday amputees alike.
What seemed impossible wasn’t just overcome, it was transformed into a new standard of what was possible.
This is the heart of what I call The Impossibility Factor. To live as a possibilitarian is to meet “impossible” not with denial or reckless defiance, but with a better question: What else might be possible here?
Possibility Note
Impossible rarely means nothing is possible. Impossible rarely means nothing is possible. More often, it means not in this way, not yet, not here, or not alone. A possibilitarian doesn’t give up on the essence of what they seek. They simply remain open to different paths, places, and times for how it might come to life.
In my own coaching (and life), I’ve seen this paradox play out time and again. Someone comes in with a dream that seems out of reach. “I want X,” they say. When it seems it isn’t possible, the natural tendency is to negotiate it down, compromise, or shelve it.
Instead, I ask them to list 15 different ways they might accomplish it.
Why 15? Because the first few answers are always the obvious ones, things they’ve already tried, or the conventional wisdom. The gold usually shows up near the end, when the brain is forced to get creative, to consider what had seemed irrelevant, unlikely, or out of bounds.
You don’t need 15 solutions. You only need the right one. But you rarely find that if you stop after three or even 10.
An Insight from Cooper North
Cooper sat at his desk, the letter from the investment firm still open in front of him. The numbers were plain: keeping the business as it was would soon be impossible.
Shirley leaned against the doorframe, watching him wrestle with the choice. “So,” she asked gently, “what are your options?”
Cooper exhaled and shook his head. “That’s the problem. I don’t actually know.”
“Then maybe,” Shirley said, “that’s where you start. Figure out the options first. Don’t decide what’s impossible before you’ve even seen what’s possible.”
Her words landed with a weight he hadn’t expected. He realized he had been framing the decision as a fork in the road: sell or keep. Yes or no. But what if there were fifteen different ways forward? Paths he hadn’t yet considered because he had stopped too soon.
For the first time, Cooper saw that “impossible” wasn’t a closed door. It was an invitation to widen the lens, to search for a new way to preserve what mattered without surrendering the essence of what he had built.
This Week’s Possibility Prompts: The Impossibility Factor
When you face something that feels impossible, sit with these questions:
What is the essence of what I want? (For Van Phillips, it wasn’t a foot—it was the ability to run.)
Is it impossible absolutely, or just impossible in this particular way?
If it’s not possible alone, who could I bring alongside me?
If it’s not possible now, what would make it possible in the future?
What fresh ideas might emerge if I push past the obvious ones and keep going to 10… or 15?
Remember that The Impossibility Factor is not a wall. It is a mirror, a compass, and sometimes a doorway.
“The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.”
~Arthur C. Clarke
Wrapping up:
The paradox of The Impossibility Factor is that impossibility isn’t the opposite of possibility, it’s the catalyst. It forces us to innovate, to reimagine, to explore.
Van Phillips couldn’t bring his leg back. But he could create another way to run. And in doing so, he didn’t just change his own life, he changed the lives of thousands.
And, as Nelson Mandela once said: “It always seems impossible until it is done.”
So, here’s the challenge for us: the next time you meet what feels impossible, don’t stop there. Treat it as an invitation to ask a better question, one that opens the door to a horizon you hadn’t yet imagined:
What else might be possible here?
And who knows, pigs might even fly. Just ask Nanny McPhee!
That’s it for this week and this series!
Over the past several weeks, we’ve explored the many dimensions of The Possibility Factor from its foundation to the role of choices, to laying the groundwork for what’s next. We’ve also looked at the trust and resilience that fuel momentum, and the awareness that opens doors others might miss.
Each piece has been an invitation to see differently, think more openly, and lean into the power of being a possibilitarian. And now, with The Impossibility Factor, we close this series where it truly begins: at the edge of what seems unattainable but where possibility is born.
Next week, we’ll begin looking ahead more closely at what’s to come for Cooper and how we can continue living as a possibilitarian.
As always, thank you for reading. If you know of someone who would benefit from our conversations here, please forward this to them and invite them to join us.
Previous Articles in this Series:
The Possibility Factor: Why FACTOR?
The Possibility Factor: Is the issue your choice? Or your choices?
The Possibility Factor: The Groundwork for What’s Next
The Possibility Factor: Trust & Resilience = The Momentum of Possibility
The Possibility Factor: Awareness and Opportunity: Seeing What Others Miss