Throughout history, the term “blue moon” implied that an event, opportunity, or even finding one’s soul mate happened only once in a blue moon. The term originated in the 16th century as ‘the Moon is Blue,” meaning something was impossible. For two years following the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia in 1883, people around the world reported seeing strangely colored sunsets, and the Moon appeared blue. It was with these occurrences that events were possible but uncommon, and that the concept of ‘once in a blue moon’ came to mean rare but not impossible.
Today, the romance has been reduced to a more technical explanation: a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month, and May 31st will exhibit this phenomenon.
However, as a business philosopher, I prefer to consider the romantic translation, implying that something special, something game-changing, some sign of success is rare but not impossible; that impossibilities can be addressed and converted into opportunities with a new viewpoint and a new approach.
And many great thinkers have shared their wisdom on this point:
Walt Disney: It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
Alexander the Great: There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
Nelson Mandela: It always seems impossible until it’s done.
John F. Kennedy: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote): In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.
So be it launching an innovative game-changing business concept, summiting Everest, shooting a perfect golf game, falling in love, again, or for me, creating a world without war through supporting ethical businesses in a free-market economy, this formula can change impossible to possible:
- Fully define your goal, cover every aspect, look at it from every angle, from the viewpoint of all involved or those who will be affected.
- Write it down (free of AI). It has to be sourced by you- to be pure and unadulterated.
- Study the environment where this goal will live- the real scene, the potential competition, the flows and counter-flows, the history, the background of those involved.
- Draw up a strategy, timelines, budgets, opportunities, and define friends and allies.
- Throw away any attempts that didn’t work, after studying the causes for why they stumbled.
- Continue to be courageous and pursue your goal without reservation, without personal self-doubt, without comparison to others, without any tendency to belittle others who seem to have succeeded, for they, too, followed a similar formula.
- And when your goal is accomplished, celebrate, look to the skies, and see that you did this without a blue moon.
Let’s leave the “Once in a Blue Moon” idea of rare but not impossible, to the romance novelists, and make the impossible possible. Let us help you take your Dream to Mainstream and on May 31st, look to the skies and smile at the moon’s beauty!
We are here to help.
Gillian