“I will find a way or make a way.” -Hannibal
My friend Tommy the firefighter trained new firemen and women, and one of his most important discussions was around the importance of the mission and would go something along the lines of this:
Tommy: So the building is on fire, and there are a couple of kids stuck inside. What do you do?
New Fire Fighter: I go through the door.
T: It’s locked.
NFF: I break it down.
T: It’s steel, you can’t break it.
NFF: I go through the window.
T: Window has bars over it. Unbreakable.
NFF: What?!
Tommy: Tick tock! Those kids need you!
NFF: I don’t know!
T: Breach the wall. Or yank the bars. Or use a ladder to second floor and come down. If you don’t solve this problem in ten seconds, those kids will die. Find a way or make a way.
Granted it is only a training exercise, but what we do in training is how we react in a real-life scenario. It is the mindset that is critical here: of being on a mission and unwilling to give up.
The special needs mother feels this.
The father trying to get his kids back from a broken system lives it.
This is the approach you need to bring to any obstacle, be it the Alps or a mountain of paperwork or the locked door: find a way or make a way to the other side.