--- title: "It isn't impossible. Nobody around you has done it yet." description: "What you think is impossible often just hasn't been done around you yet. The four-minute mile, Seneca and a 7-day protocol." url: https://dailyinspire.ch/en/blogs/impossible-people-around-you-limits-bannister-seneca/ language: en published: 2026-11-02T07:00:00+01:00 updated: 2026-11-02T11:54:07+01:00 author: Kacper publisher: DailyInspire.ch topics: ["Challenges", "Foundation", "Motivation"] image: https://dailyinspire.ch/dateien/uploads/2026/11/20261102-115407-b06c9d67.webp translation: https://dailyinspire.ch/Blog/unmoeglich-umfeld-grenzen-bannister-seneca/ reading_time_minutes: 8 --- # It isn't impossible. Nobody around you has done it yet. *Your "impossible" usually comes from people who never tried. What Bannister, Patton and Seneca show about it, and how to become the first in 7 days.* ![DailyInspire bull above the German line "Es ist nicht unmöglich. Es hat nur in deinem Umfeld noch niemand gemacht." – It isn't impossible. Nobody around you has done it yet.](https://dailyinspire.ch/dateien/uploads/2026/11/20261102-115407-b06c9d67.webp) > **Key point:** **Key takeaways:** What you call "impossible" has usually just not been done by anyone around you. On 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister became the first to run a mile in under four minutes; 46 days later John Landy did it too. Check where your "impossible" comes from, find one proof and spend more time with people who deliver. The protocol takes 7 days. You say it can't be done. Your own business, the ten kilos, the half marathon, a new language at 45. How do you know? Have you tried? Or did someone tell you who never tried it themselves? Most of the limits in your head aren't ones you drew yourself. You inherited them. From colleagues, from family, from the regulars at the bar. They feel like laws of nature. They're opinions. ## What does "impossible" really mean? Most of the time, "impossible" only means that nobody around you has done it yet. That's a statement about your circle, not about the thing itself. Check it yourself. Take something you consider impossible and ask: impossible for whom? For every person on the planet? Or for the twelve people you talk to most? The answer is almost always the second one. > **Key point:** "Impossible" is rarely a law of nature. Usually it's a poll among the people you know. ## What does the four-minute mile teach you? That a single proof moves a limit for everyone. On 6 May 1954, at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3:59.4. The first person ever under four minutes. 46 days later John Landy ran 3:58 in Turku. In the same year the two met in Vancouver, in the race that became known as the "Miracle Mile". Both finished under four minutes, in the same race. The runners' legs had hardly changed in those weeks. The question had. Before, it was "Can it be done?" Afterwards it was only "How?" > **Key point:** One proof turns "impossible" into "hard". And "hard" is something you can plan. ## Who keeps telling you it can't be done? Usually someone sitting far away from the work. In March 1945 General George S. Patton was advancing on Trier with his Third Army. Allied headquarters reckoned that taking Trier would need four divisions, and the instruction was not to attack the city for now. By then Trier had already been taken. Patton's reply has come down to us roughly as: "Have taken Trier with two divisions. Do you want me to give it back?" The calculation at headquarters wasn't stupid. It was just far away. Whoever does the maths at the desk doesn't know the road. So with every "can't be done", check two things. Has this person tried it themselves? And how close are they to your work? > "It is not because things are hard that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are hard." > Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 104.26 ## Why do you need other people? Because on your own you get very little done, and almost everything you have comes from other people. What you eat, what you work with, what you know: others thought it up, built it or taught it to you. The lone wolf makes a good film character and a poor business model. But: on your own you get little done. With the wrong people, even less. So take stock of the people around you, in relation to your goal. You'll find three groups: - **Delivers:** These people do what they say. They ask "How?" rather than "Why not?". You learn the most from them. - **Brakes:** They have an objection to every plan and rarely a plan of their own. Not malicious. Just expensive. - **Stuck:** They aren't moving forward right now. Often they need help, not your judgement. This is about behaviour in relation to your goal, not about anyone's worth as a person. The same person can deliver at the gym and brake when it comes to your business. Seneca put it like this to his friend Lucilius almost 2,000 years ago: > "Spend your time with those who will make you better. Welcome those whom you can make better. It works both ways: people learn while they teach." > Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 7.8 That's the whole rule. More time with the people who deliver. Help for those who are stuck and want help. Less microphone for those who brake. You don't have to cut anyone out of your life. You just don't let them decide where your limits are. > **Key point:** The people around you decide what you think is possible. So decide who the people around you are. ## How do you become the first in your circle in 7 days? With a claim, a proof and a person: seven days, one step a day. 1. **Claim (day 1):** Write down one thing you consider impossible for yourself. One area: health, motivation or foundation. One sentence. 2. **Source (day 1):** Underneath, write down who told you so. Next to each name, a mark: has this person tried it themselves? Yes or no. 3. **Proof (day 2):** Find one person who has done it. In your town, in a book, in an interview. One is enough. Then cross out the word "impossible" and write "hard" next to it. 4. **Inventory (day 3):** Write down the ten people you spend the most time with. Mark each one in relation to your goal: delivers, brakes or stuck. 5. **Contact (day 4):** Send someone who delivers a message with one concrete question. Not "How are you?" but "How did you get through the first three months?". 6. **First move (days 5 and 6):** Break your "hard" down into the smallest step you can take today, and take it. 15 minutes a day. In the evening, green or red on your [scoreboard](https://dailyinspire.ch/en/blogs/scoreboard-victory-line-habits-green-red-card/). 7. **Review (day 7):** Read your claim from day 1. Does it still say "impossible", or already "hard"? "Hard" goes into next week's plan. Change only one parameter. ## How does the planner help? The planner records both: your steps and your people. On the day page, one of the five tasks is your first move, broken down into micro-tasks. Contacting someone who delivers is a foundation task, because relationships are part of your foundation. Whatever is left undone goes on the red card on the weekly page. The DailyInspire Planner: A5, undated, one page per day, written in German. CHF 55.55 including delivery within Switzerland, shipping from 1 December 2026, and you pay by invoice after it arrives. The first 100 copies come with your name engraved free of charge. Details are on the [planner page](https://dailyinspire.ch/en/planner/). Want to test it first? There are also [14 days to try](https://dailyinspire.ch/en/planner/#testen) as a PDF. ## What does NULLRAUSCHEN 7 have to do with it? You can also change the people around you for a whole week. [NULLRAUSCHEN 7](https://dailyinspire.ch/en/nullrauschen/) is DailyInspire's silent, offline retreat: seven days and six nights without phone or computer in Liguria, three sets of dates from 2 January 2028, CHF 3'333 per person, taught in German. Seven days with people who have made the same decision as you: phone off, plan on paper. You don't talk to each other. Even so, every day you see how the others are doing it. That's the purest form of a circle: people who deliver without saying a word about it. The hotel and the team are not confirmed yet, and bookings are not open. Interested? Email [hello@dailyinspire.ch](mailto:hello@dailyinspire.ch?subject=NULLRAUSCHEN%207) with the subject "NULLRAUSCHEN 7". Enquiries are free and non-binding. ## Frequently asked questions ### Should I cut negative people out of my life? No, you just shouldn't let them decide what's possible for you. You can love someone and still ignore their objection. Less time with the people who brake doesn't mean no time. It means different topics. ### What if nobody around me delivers? Then look for your proof elsewhere: in books, interviews, clubs, courses and groups on your topic. You could never have met Seneca. You still read his letters. Your circle doesn't have to sit at the same table. ### Isn't "be the first" reckless? Not if you understand "the first" correctly: the first in your circle, not the first in human history. Being the first on the moon isn't a goal for today. Being the first in your family to run your own business or a half marathon is. Where health, money or safety are at stake, bring in professionals first. ### How do I help someone who is stuck without getting stuck myself? With a clear offer instead of endless conversations: one question, one step, one date. Help the people who want help and then actually take the step. Seneca is right: people learn while they teach. But if you only listen to someone not starting, all you learn is how not to start. ## Your task for today 1. **Write:** "I think it's impossible for me to …" 2. **Check:** Who told you that? Have they tried it themselves? 3. **Prove:** Find one person who has done it. Write their name next to it. In 1954 Bannister didn't change physics. He delivered a proof. Maybe the people around you are waiting for one too. You'll find more protocols on the [DailyInspire.ch blog](https://dailyinspire.ch/en/blogs/). > **Key point:** Someone has to be first. Why not you? --- Source: [DailyInspire.ch](https://dailyinspire.ch/en/) – Kacper, November 2, 2026. Original: https://dailyinspire.ch/en/blogs/impossible-people-around-you-limits-bannister-seneca/