Are you focused on circumstances? Or the possibilities?

My family’s history is filled with stories of people that inspired future generations to always look for the possibilities. I believe that outside of my spiritual heritage, that has been the most valuable skill I inherited from their legacy.

My great-grandmother, Molly Mackenzie, was half Cherokee. Her Cherokee roots came from her father. In the late 1800s, she faced rejection and prejudice at every turn. And yet, she managed to raise four children and run a very successful business, all on her own.

It would have been remarkable just as a woman. But she had other factors against her. How did she achieve such a legacy?

She recognized that her advantage was that the Cherokee tribe educated the girls. After all, they were the ones handling the trading. She focused on the possibilities unique to her instead of the circumstances and went to work.

My grandmother, her daughter, was an accomplished seamstress. In World War II, she worked in a uniform factory, where she learned more about tailoring. When the war ended, and the women were being sent home from their jobs to make room for the returning soldiers, she realized that she now had a marketable skill and used that to become a sought-after tailor and clothing designer. She passed her love of creating to my mother and me. Our Christmas gifts were often beautiful bolts of fabric. She would wait eagerly to see what we created from them.

The stories go on and on for my family and so many others that have crossed my path.

When I read Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is the Way, I recognized a philosophy and perspective that I had witnessed my entire life. It was now up to me to faithfully practice it and carry the flame forward.

In the process, I learned the difference between positive thinking and possibility thinking.

Norman Vincent Peale coined the word possibilitarian, and it is the better choice by far. Here’s what he shared:

“I challenge you to become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities – always see them, for they are always there.”

The root meaning of the word possible is “capable of making happen.”

Can you think of anything more invigorating and inspiring than facing each day with the mindset that we can make happen whatever we choose? It raises the bar for what we see as choices to a very different level. Don’t you agree?

Would you like this to be your story?

Here are six steps to letting possibility thinking reign in any part of your life:

1.     Believe it’s possible (Yes – obvious but true!)

2.     Believe it’s possible for you (First change to stumble is here – get rid of the excuses!)

3.     Be willing to do the work (Oh yes – it’s not magic. It still takes work.)

4.     Be willing to pay the price (Promise to price equation – Your Why Power in play.)

5.     Partner with the right people (Others can often see the possibilities before we can. Borrow their brain!)

6.     Play to keep playing (infinite vs. finite) and not merely to win. (The real key to it all.)

Live today like you want tomorrow to be, and as Emily Dickinson said: “Dwell in possibility.”