Internalizing External Walls in Innovation - The Christian Online Magazine

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We’ve all heard the nay Sayers—the ones who tell you it can’t be done and it’s pointless to even try. My question is: if they know absolutely everything that can’t be done, then why don’t they know at least a few things that can be?

A perfect example of this phenomenon is Dr. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine that has saved countless lives. He said that any innovator will go through three steps in getting his idea accepted.

First, the innovator’s friends and colleagues will say, "This will never work. It’s simply not possible."

Unfortunately many people allow themselves to be stopped by this perpetually negative external talk. However, it usually takes internalizing the talk to construct an actual barrier and stop progress. The innovator begins to say to him or herself, "What if they are right? Maybe it is impossible."

Coupled with a few short-term failures, this internal talk undermines their determination, and they give up on reaching for their dream.

There are some, however, that manage to break through this initial wall, and find a product or service that does, in fact, work. Then Dr. Salk says, the friends and colleagues will be back, saying, "Well, it works, but there’s no way it can make a real difference. This will only help a few people anyway. It’s not worth pursuing."

Giving up on a dream here is like holding the ball and waiting for the buzzer to sound without taking the last second shot; nonetheless, countless dreamers have been stymied at this point again by internalizing this external influence.

Finally, Dr. Salk says, when the product or service is proven to be a success, and it is now helping a myriad of people, those same friends and colleagues will put you on a stage, put their arms around you, and say, "I knew it would work all along."

Ironic, isn’t it? But why is this important? Because we will all run smack into this wall of well-intentioned friends and colleagues who are supposedly looking out for our best interest, but who perpetually limit us to only trying those things that have already been done.

So what do you say to these people when they are undermining your dreams and more importantly to that little voice inside your head echoing their pessimism? How about this: "You could be right. It might not work, but wouldn’t it be cool if it did?"

I, for one, am glad that Dr. Salk internalized only the "wouldn’t it be cool if it did" phrase. I only wish more of us were as brave.