When was the last time you just belted out the old saying, “Today, anything is possible!” When was the last time you spent an entire day without worry, without any degree of fear? What if it really is true, that anything is possible? What if you really didn’t have to worry at all, or fear anything?
Saturday morning, in a meeting with a women named Tyler, whom I had only just met, I was reminded of this old adage. Tyler was introduced to me by a friend, who just said, “Anthony, you need to meet Tyler.”
So, the day before the meeting, we had a short call, because she doesn’t meet with just anyone. When the meeting finally started, after the common pleasantries, Tyler dove right in and asked me, “If I gave you a trillion dollars —not a billion, but, yes, a trillion —what would you do with it?”
Well, I love to think big, but I did take a pause when she said this. When I finally answered, I felt I had a choice… Do I say right now, to myself, anything is possible? Or do I stutter with the fear that is looming over me? Will I say the right thing? Will my idea be big enough? Who is this Tyler, anyway? Why do I even care?
Sitting in a beautiful Del Mar restaurant, I felt angry for being challenged, but I also felt joy for having the opportunity, in this very moment, to decide how I would spend a trillion dollars —and boy, I want to spend a trillion! Who wouldn’t? So I set my fear and anger, along with any other negative emotions aside, and decided to go right into this moment with an “anything is possible” attitude.
So I blurted out, “I would eliminate global landfills by reusing, repurposing, and reprocessing all of the incredible resources that today go into formal and informal landfills around the globe.” Yeah, I have an answer!
I immediately told Tyler about all the technology that is available to us today, and that it just sits in individual company’s silos because no one has aggregated it. Yup, I would become a global aggregator of all these technologies, and that it would take 2 billion to launch now in the U.S., with 20 reprocessing and repurposing campus across the country, each costing 100 million.
I was on a roll and her head was nodding. Yup, a trillion is on its way, and as a result of this conversation, all my phone calls that afternoon where about building the team to spend this trillion and change the way the world looks at waste, while making the world a safer, healthier and less toxic place. This trillion dollars would be used to eliminating significant green house gas emissions, fossil fuels and preserve valuable resources —even food, for the 3 billion people who will be born on this planet in the next 30 years.
So, what are you going to do with your trillion? Yup, I have another trillion dollars for you right now, and all you have to do in this moment is say how you are going to spend it. Let all the emotion flow through you as you think about what you’d do. It was amazing to me how many emotions there where, and in a weird way, how thinking” anything is possible” was not as easy as you would think it should be.
Ok, so I gave you a moment to think, so how would you answer the question, how are you going to spend a trillion dollars? Yup, I am not going to let up… How are you going to spend the trillion dollars that is being deposited into your account as soon as you tell the world what you are going to do with it?
Yeah! Now, you have to tell other people what you are going to do with this trillion. Who are you going to get on your team? Did you call them today? Are you going to schedule a meeting within the next week or two? Yup, you can make this real just by saying to yourself that anything is possible, and beginning to work towards that vision.
Push fear and doubt aside, right now, and let yourself feel that “anything is possible” glow. It will be intoxicating to everyone to whom you tell your idea for spending a trillion dollars. Yes, you have to maintain that positive glow, day-in and day-out.
Today, I have another call with this provocateur, Tyler, and I can’t help but wonder, what if this “anything is possible” vision comes to fruition? With this positive glow, I feel it will come to be. Your vision will, too, if you believe it will.
If you have any doubts, just remind yourself of this “anything is possible” glow the next time you see a Tesla driving down the road, or the next time you see someone using their smart phone to take a picture, or the next time you ride in an airplane —or maybe even the next time you get a flu shot. All of these things started with one thing… an attitude that “anything is possible.”
Rock On—
AZ
