The James Altucher Show

Ep. 145 - Mick Ebeling: I'll Teach You How to Do Impossible Things

Episode Summary

I know a miracle worker. He’s an entrepreneur, marketing man, and film producer who gets companies like HP to say, “yes” to him. You can learn a lot from him. I did. One thing I learned is there’s more to choosing yourself....

Episode Notes

I know a miracle worker. He’s an entrepreneur, marketing man, and film producer who gets companies like HP to say, “yes” to him.

You can learn a lot from him. I did.

One thing I learned is there’s more to choosing yourself. There’s a part two.

Part one is when you see things in your life that are absurd, decide you’re not going to stand for it anymore and quit. You decide to become physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthy. That’s choosing yourself.

Part two is when you see what’s wrong with the world and say, “That’s absurd. Let’s change that. Let’s hack that. Let’s modify that so it’s affordable." That's what Mick Ebeling does-- founder of the Not Impossible Labs and the Not Impossible Foundation. Through these two entities, Mick figured out how build whatever he wants, and solve impossible problems.

Mick sees the world through his own lens. It’s the reason he’s successful.

He creates technology that solves absurd problems like having your arms blown off. No prosthetics, no solution. Or being paralyzed and unable to speak to your family ever again.

The technology to fix these problems does exist. But when you can’t afford it, you have an even bigger problem.

This is why Mick hacks. He disrupts the system, doesn’t wait for permission, and believes in impossible things. You can, too, but more on that later.

Let me tell you how he got started. Mick was just reading the paper. He read that thousands of people in the country of Sudan don’t have arms because of war injuries. And they just live with it. They can’t afford prosthetics, so they hand-feed each other, dress each other, and help each other with all the other daily necessities.

Mick decided to do something. He flew to Sudan with no plan and figured out how to create prosthetic arms using a 3D printer. This is someone with no experience in medicine or engineering. He’s just a guy with a big heart who decided nothing is impossible.

On the show, you’ll hear how he 3D printed arms for a boy named Daniel, and empowered an entire country to do this for thousands of other people missing limbs.

I wanted to know how it's done. How can people quit their jobs and do things that really matter? Mick tells you how on the podcast.

You’ll also learn how to think like today’s most successful innovators. “We’re not trying to create the next $700 pill,” Mick says, “We’re trying to create something that totally disrupts a particular fill-in-the-blank, maybe it’s a way of communication, a way of transportation.” This is the winning mentality today: Uber, Airbnb, Not Impossible Labs.

By making technology accessible, he’s solving global problems. “Help one, help many,” that’s Not Impossible Labs’ mission.

Then Mick’s team tells the story through videos that go viral and infect everyone with this bug- the not impossible bug.

Besides a miracle worker, Mick’s a story teller. “Each of our projects tells the story of a single individual. By helping one person, how many others can we help?”

Stories bridge the gap between helping just one person and helping many. Mick’s not just choosing himself… He’s choosing the world.

“Once you start to have the awareness of something you need, you start to see it.”

So how can you get the big idea, do the impossible, and become beautifully successful

“First of all, you can just start to believe in this mentality that nothing is impossible,” Mick says.

Try it.

Second, look for absurdities. They’re everywhere – when you read or watch TV. When something bothers you, think of solutions. Be an idea machine.

Third, disrupt. Don’t wait for big government or big business to give you permission. Forget bureaucracy.

Disruption starts now. We’re hacking the system.

Listen to today’s episode. You’ll hear Mick’s miracle stories, find out where he gets his big ideas and his money, and how you too can do impossible things.

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