We’ve had a lot of new people in the last 10 days so I thought I’d take the time to review exactly what it is we’re up to at the site (we have a lot of things happening). If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll still want to read this. We’ve got a ton of projects going on and you may have just missed a few things.
First things first, there are a lot of sites that are about inspiration, feeling good and happy self-talk a-la a virtual internet Oprah.
This Is Not One Of Those Sites
Table of Contents
Here, we talk about pushing your limits and tell a great story by doing the impossible. Doing really hard stuff doesn’t happen by sitting around, and talking about how much you really want to do something, while waiting for the stars to align. It happens by going out and actually doing it. That’s why the unofficial shorter motto around here is:
- Do something first.
- Talk about it second (if you have time)
The even shorter version: Do something.
We believe inspiration is worth absolutely nothing if you never do anything with it – so we focus on doing. Cool?
Now that that’s out of the way, here’s how this whole thing got started…
The 2-Year, 20 Second Recap
2 years ago I was a laid-off from UPS driver helper and couldn’t get a call back from Starbucks. It was not awesome. I didn’t feel like I could do anything.
So I sat and moped around for a while while telling myself how hard life was and how everything was impossible….then something happened. I got sick of it. I decided that even if I tried and massively failed, it would be 100x better than sitting around in my parents basement feeling sorry for myself and telling myself how good my excuses were without actually knowing it myself.
So I started doing something. I made a list of all the things that seemed impossible to me and decided to start actually trying them. The first thing I did was a “fake” indoor triathlon (I figured it would be easier for them to fish my drowned body out of a pool than a lake when I drowned).
You can make your way through whole story, but things escalated quickly:
The fake indoor triathlon led to a real one, which led to a bunch more triathlons, my first marathon and a half ironman despite me hating running and never having run more than 3 miles in my life before.
As I started doing things, the blog started to expand as well. Since it’s inception, it’s expanded into a brand headquarters, a community, an apparel line and a manifesto that’s topped the charts on Amazon for weeks.
So what are we up to now? Well, quite a bit (we’re ambitious like that).
Current Impossible Projects.
Impossible School Project
We’re Building an #IMPOSSIBLE School in Guatemala
As a community, one of our main goals is giving back and helping others do the impossible as well. Currently we’re partnering with Pencils of Promise to raise 25,000 to build a school in Guatemala and help 1,000 students achieve an impossible goal of having a chance of education. (After announcing it just last week, we’re already 15% of the way there). But this isn’t a normal hands-off fundraiser, once we raise the funds, we’ll actually go visit the school and help build it with our hands. If you’d like to join in and help out, you can do so in two ways:
- Donate Here
- Read the background here and join in.
The Impossible Abs Challenge
My most recent challenge was my most daunting (and easily my most vain). For my entire life I’ve wanted six pack abs. I tried a billion different programs (approximately) and none of them worked. This spring I got sick of messing around and finally decided to get things done.
I sat down with Vic and we created a program that eliminated my excuses and in exactly 8 weeks I lost 34 pounds got to 5.4% body fat and finally the ever elusive six pack(and did a photo shoot along the way). You can read about exactly how I got six pack abs here.
After several requests, we’re releasing the training guide and coaching program in the next two weeks. If you’d like to be find out more about this, you can sign up here.
Impossible Gear
Nate Damm finishing his Walk Across America in his Impossible Shirt
Several people in the use impossible gear as a reminder to live a life worth writing about and do the impossible. It’s been all over the world with people doing incredible things. If you’d like to join in the fun, grab some gear, do something impossible in it and send it in. We just might feature you :).
- Impossible Shirts
- Impossible Tanks
- Impossible Cycling Jerseys (avaialble for next two weeks). Portion of proceeds go to our #IMPOSSIBLE school effort.
Other Impossible Stuff
A few other happenings and references that aren’t neatly organized into one specific category.
- I’ve spoken at Target HQ in Minneapolis, MN, the World Domination Summit in Portland, and a few universities.
- Occasionally I take people on some impossible adventures to push them outside their comfort zone and physically do something (exhibit A | exhibit B). Want to come along on our next one?
- I run own my own online marketing agency, an adventure blog and recently returned from a press trips with the Jordan Tourism Board
- I created a triathlon guide, if you’re interested in running your first triathlon but don’t know where to start. People from all walks of life have used it to run their first triathlon ever.
- There’s a small group of us that like to take cold showers (but for a much different reason than you’re probably thinking of). We also say #boom a lot. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.
Whew that’s a lot! If you’re still with us, congratulations, we’re glad you’re here. If you’re an impossible veteran…you know the drill. We’re just getting started :).
#boom
If you haven’t already, subscribe via email and then join the community of other impossible doers in the impossible league community.
I never EVER said #boom Before you! Now I can’t stop! I think it in my head when someone says something that requires it…sometimes it’s not appropriate to say it out loud…but i think it more often than not! Thanks for adding that to my vocabulary!
Great summary! The ultra you’re running in Chicago . . . is that the one on the lakefront, Oct 27th?
Yup.
Are you making a midwest trip anytime soon?
No plans at the moment. Am going to NYC for a family thing in early November but will keep Chicago in mind too 🙂
Did you actually go to Dubai to do a tandem? I don’t see it mentioned anywhere on your site, but it is DEF Fazza Sky/Skydive Dubai gear that tandem instructor is wearing.
Hey Caryn,
It was in Jordan actually. The Skydive Jordan adventure is organized on a joint venture between the aerosports club in Wadi Rum and Skydive Dubai. Skydive Dubai is one of the top skydive orgs in the world and it really was a first class operation. Out of the 3 jumps I’ve done, this was BY FAR my favorite one (best scenery, best organized, best media, etc).
Joel, just found your site today, and was inspired.
So my first new impossible task is to be able to do 100 pushups at a session before the end of the year.
I’m, 55, out of shape, and can do 1 as of now. Told my daughter my goal, and she didn’t say “impossible” but I know she thinks it highly unlikely.
Will include a link to your site so others can get inspired.
Congratulations on meeting your impossible goals and helping others to do the same.
Boom!
I don’t know you, but I love you!
Sooo… became father of 2 @ 24, lived in 4 countries (2 in europe, 1 in Asia and US)work as chief sw architect without a degree for top 10 corps in the us, went from 350 to 165 pounds and arrived at 42 i ask myself…whad next?