What one great thing would you attempt if you knew you couldn't fail?
Mark Anthony Baker
One of the UK's leading Motivational Speakers and Leading Authority on Business Storytelling.
I was always an inquisitive child, it was one of two things that used to get me into trouble on a regular basis. The first being my fascination with fire.. Both sets of my grandparents used to have log fires and candles above the fireplace.
Both were equally horrified to enter their respective lounges to see their fires blazing and all of their candles alight as I sat in front of their fires with my mind in a far away place as I sat there lost in the flames.
The flames always put me in a kind of semi hypnotic state and I used to find myself drifting away into the future where all my dreams came true. I was usually racing a motorcycle in my daydreams. My dad had raced when he was younger and I wanted to be just like him.
Eventually my grandparents refused to have candles or matches in the house if I was visiting.
At Christmas lunch one day someone asked why there were no candles on the table which followed with a disapproving glare from my gran, followed by a disapproving glare from the rest of the family.
A candle would not appear on that table until I was thirty seven years old as my gran reasoned that I could probably be trusted again as 37 was quite a responsible age. Ignoring the fact that I had a wife and two children of my own. Both of whom giggled as my gran told the story of their dad the pyromaniac.
The second thing that used to get me into trouble was my inquisitive nature although I have to say that I blame them as if they hadn't said things like.
“Whatever you do, don't go into the loft”. I probably wouldn't have entered it in the first place. I simply had to know why it was such a big secret.
My gran who felt relatively comfortable leaving me alone in the house in the knowledge that there were no candles or matches available grabbed her coat and her bag and headed out to the corner shop.
As the door closed I jumped to my feet and headed up to the attic. Pausing momentarily as my conscience wrestled with itself before I began to climb the skinny stairs regardless.
As I entered the room there were two small skylights which allowed two beams of light to enter. To me they looked like two searchlights. The room was full of boxes and clothes. But on the right side there was a bookcase that ran along the entire wall. It was brimming with books. I picked up a couple and glanced at their covers.
They were either books about flowers or books awarded at Sunday school to my grandparents or their children. I put them back before proceeding and dragged my fingers along the books as I walked.
Then I heard a thud. I turned and gasped thinking that I had been caught. But I hadn't. A book had fallen to the floor. I must have nudged it loose as I passed.
I picked it up and went to push it back into the void but as I did I noticed the title. It was called “Wake up and live” by a lady by the name of Dorothea Brande.
Its title seemed stupid to me. Wake up and live, Surely if you were awake you were alive I reasoned. I opened the book out of curiosity and began to read. I was hooked. The lady was an author who had only written a short story and four articles in twenty years until she came across a book which asked the question.
“What would you do if you knew you could not fail”. When she read those words she realised that she had spent the last twenty years listening to her thoughts of doubt about her ability.
But when she asked herself that sentence it seemed to transcend all of her self imposed limitations.
She went on to write multiple books in a relatively short space of time as well as scores of published articles and consulted with aspiring authors from all over the world.
I was so excited as I read the book that I had to press it down on the floor in order to read it as my hands were shaking so much I could barely read the words as they jumped around on the page. Could I really be anything I wondered.
My thoughts went back to motorcycles as I considered all of the possibilities.
I didn't hear my father enter the room behind me. When I saw him I wasn't afraid as I usually would have been.
Instead I was so excited that I jumped to my feet and began to tell him in an excited voice that this book said that I could do anything and I began to tell him of all my dreams for the future.
But my enthusiasm quickly ended as he looked at me angrily as he prised the book from my fingers. Mark, You are just a dreamer.
Dreamers never get anywhere in life. And I can tell you now. You will never ever achieve anything.
You are nothing. You are the biggest disappointment in my life and I hate you. I always have. With that he threw the book across the floor.
I turned and watched it as it slid along the floor before coming to rest against a pile of boxes as if I was making a mental note as to where it was so I could come back and retrieve it later.
As he marched me from the loft I wasn't thinking about his words as much as they had made my heart ache. All I could think of was that one line.
“What one great thing would you dare to attempt if you knew you couldn't fail”
I smiled as I considered the possibilities that lay before me as irrespective of what my dad had said. I reasoned that surely there must be something that a 12 year old boy could do with his life!
Which leads me to the question I have come here today to ask all of you.
What one great thing would you dare to attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail?
Mark Baker is an executive coach specialising in Mindset and Releasing potential.
If you would like to know more simply send a message to arrange a free 30 minute conversation.
