Tackling the Impossible
Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 5:29PM I am emerging from the beautiful winter cocoon I've been in since Christmas. My family and I had a wonderfully relaxing week hiking, reading and being at Ravenwood, one of the lodging options at the Arc of Appalachia's Highlands Nature Sanctuary in Bainbridge, Ohio. (I'll share pictures soon!)
One of the many gifts of this season is that December was a month of seeing some incredible movies. (I highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Doubt, Burn After Reading (saw on DVD), and Rachel Getting Married.)
But what most inspired (and amazed) me movie-wise was a documentary movie called Man On Wire, about Philip Petit.
Petit is a French tightrope walker, who in 1974 strung a wire between the two World Trade Towers.
To me, the movie speaks to the power of mindsets. (See Carol Dweck's wonderful book Mindset on the power of having a growth mindset and its impact on success. Her website is here.) First there is the tremendous team (i.e. he didn't do this alone, he needed a team of helpers to achieve his dream). And then there's amount of planning (six years-plus) that went into the endeavor. (Oh, yeah, there's some law-breaking, too. :-) )
And then there's the vision and growth mindset of Philip Petit.
One of my favorite quotes is when Philip Petit says "It's impossible. That's sure. Now let's start working."
Another quote I loved was "Life should be lived on the edge. See every day as a challenge and then you live your life on the tightrope."
I think of how often in the past I have given up because I have deemed my idea/dream etc. impossible.
For me this movie is a testament to the power of believing in your vision and how the impossible becomes possible by standing for that vision.
Even if you don't watch the movie (my cable company had it offered as pay-per-view movie; it's also available to purchase through sites like Amazon) the trailer gives you a good sense of the movie. (Here is link if video below doesn't work on your screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIawNRm9NWM)
In addition to opening the movie provided me on on mindsets and vision, I found it to be very well-produced — I especially enjoyed the archival footage of Petit and the espionage-like plotting it took to pull of this coup. The movie has been well-reviewed by movie critics, including making many top picks list.
