Impossibilities

Ostatnio wygłosiłem w Toastmasterach mowę nr 2, której celem, wg podręcznika było: "Speech no 2 - Organize your speech"

• to select an appropriate outline which allows listeners to easily follow and understand the speech
• make the message clear, with supporting material directly contributing to that message
• use appropriate transitions when moving from one idea to anaother
• create a strong opening and conclusion

Wszystko udało mi się niemal dokładnie jak zaplanowałem i dostałem bardzo pozytywną ewaluację! A oto rzeczona mowa:

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"Impossible!" Madame toastmaster, fellow members and most welcomed guests, I think this word is used by us very often, much too often I would say. What inspired me to talk about this subject happened a few weeks ago. Because of a tube strike I decided to run 10 miles in the morning, work as usual and then run 10 miles back home. Would you think that’s possible? Now both you and I know that it is, although for over half a year of working there it has never crossed my mind. Yet this speech will not be about running, but something much more important: it will be about what I’ve learnt from that run.
A polish writer, Jacek Dukaj, said in one of his novels: Impossibilities are only things which have not been thought over yet. Please pay attention to how much optimism this short sentence carries. I will give you now a few examples to prove this point.
What we usually mean by this word are things that no one has ever done before. Let me give you a few historic examples which are the most notable: There was Christopher Columbus who discovered America , Captain Matthew Webb who swam the English Channel in 1875 or Edmund Hillary who climbed Mount Everest in 1953. Yet this is not the only category.
It’s great to do something for the first time, but it’s equally important to focus on improvement. Some people may remember that early computers would be the size of this whole room and yet have less computing power than an ordinary mobile phone nowadays. At that time no one believed that computers will be ever needed for personal use. Same thing applies to various areas of our lives, including communication, airplanes or car industry. One can open the Guiness Book of World Records to see how many new ones are broken each year. Similarly almost in every major sport event we can see the boundaries of what is possible for a human being pushed even further. Exactly as the Olympic motto says: Citius, altius, fortius, which means: Faster, higher, stronger".
There are also people who need to overcome their physical limitations. In March this year on a training camp in Lanzarote I met an incredible guy, Richard Whitehead, who is a double leg amputee. Despite his handicap he decided to take up... running! He runs on prosthetics made especially for him and earned a nickname: "Blade Runner". Do you want to know why? This is a photo of me racing against Richard and...he was faster! 2 weeks ago I followed him online when he ran the Chicago Marathon in a phenomenal time of 2 hours 42 minutes, beating 95% of other runners, who were born healthy.
Lastly there are also problems that we need to solve in everyday life like and her comes my run. Rather than complain about the strike I took some positive action. I left my clean clothes in the office the night before, printed the map of the route and set off on a jog which turned out to be one of the most beautiful runs I’ve ever had: Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, next to Buckingham Palace, through Trafalgar Square, then along the Thames, through the City, next to St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and along some bicycle paths all the way up to Canary Wharf.
And do you know what the best is about tackling problems which are apparently impossible to solve? Once you’ve found a solution you can apply it over and over. So when there was a next strike 4 weeks later, guess what I did? And guess what I’ll do when the tube workers go on strike again.....?
So I urge you all tonight to take the word "impossible" out of your vocabulary. There will be times when you find yourself stuck, blocked by some apparently unpassable obstacles. There will be always a lot of people who will say: "you can’t do it". Don’t get apprehensive, don’t give up. You should then ask yourself: "how can I do it?" and answer them: "maybe you can’t, but I can". Unleash your creativity, be bold and start believing that impossibilities are only things which have not been thought over yet.