Challenging The Limits Of The Possible

“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”

– Arthur C. Clarke

I found myself expanding my own limits of the possible on Friday night last.

I was one of about 50 men sitting amongst 850 women on Friday night, in a huge function room at a large hotel in Dublin city.

The occasion was the Image Business Woman Of the Year Awards – the premiere awards event for business women in Ireland.

As the various winners came to the stage over the course of the evening and shared some of their stories, I found myself in increasing awe and admiration.

One woman juggled her businesses, while also raising a family of seven children. Another had had her first child, just 4 weeks earlier. Others shared stories with brutal honesty of overcoming serious obstacles and of the value and importance of the people on the journey with them.

The list of nominees across all award categories was very impressive. All women had created or were leading organisations that are making a real difference to their customers and in many cases providing vital services to the community.

I found myself being increasingly inspired as the event went on.

I have to be honest and say that it was a very different event experience to being at an event that is male dominated.

The energy was different. For example, there was more vulnerability as the winners spoke.

Then, at one point the renowned performing artist, Imelda May, came to stage and sang with grace and power. She then recited a poem she had written about love.

At a business event? Love!! 🙂

It was super.

But the icing on the cake, from my point of view, was that the winner of the overall award, the business woman of the year 2024, was the person who had invited me to the event – my client, Emma Maye.

It was a joy to watch someone with no expectation of winning whatsoever, get recognition for their work, graft and persistence.

It’s easy to look at others and think ‘I wish that was me’ but with a slight re-frame we can latch onto a different type of thought – one that challenges us to raise our spirits and be inspired to raise our sights again.

Inspiration and hope are important variables in creating ‘your impossible’.

If nothing else, an awards event like the Image one, serves an important role in inspiring others to dream big, pursue their impossible and vitally, to keep persisting.

This week, where can you activate something in your world that perhaps you’ve stopped pursuing because it seemed impossible?

Best,

Shane

The Inner Edge Podcast: This week’s episode, Ep 179: One Key Trait Of Successful People (Inspired by the Image Business Woman Of The Year Awards)

Short, bite-sized nuggets of 10-12 minutes, designed to give you motivation and plenty of inspirational food for thought. Listen on my website here or on all major podcasting platforms.

Leaders Survey Report: Get The first Inside Out Business Report is available for download today. In it 5 key findings are shared including:

• The % of organisational success that’s down to the mind of the CEO/leader
• The stress levels of leaders so far in 2024
• Whether leaders like you see a link between their minds and financial performance
• The average mood of leaders over the last 6 months
• The importance of the leaders mood to team performance

You can access the report by going here.

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