Learn. Grow. Give.

Everything That Can Work, Will Work

Why possibility deserves as much attention as failure

A person kneels on a half-built wooden footbridge over a stream at dawn, setting the next plank in place, with morning light on the far bank.

We all know Murphy’s Law. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

When a project runs into trouble, we remember Murphy. When a plan we prepared with care falls apart, we remember Murphy. When something breaks on the very day we need it most, we nod our heads and say that Murphy was right.

But I have been thinking about a different question these days. Why should what can go wrong get more of our attention than what can go right? Does that make sense?

We have a famous saying for failure. We do not seem to have one for possibility. So I made one for myself, and I want to share it with you.

Everything that can work, will work.

What do I mean by “everything that can work, will work”?

In simple terms, it means I will not call something impossible merely because I have not yet found how to make it work.

It is not a guarantee. Some plans fail, and some of mine will fail too. It is also not permission to ignore difficulties. It is a commitment to explore the possibility, do the work, and stay open to finding a way.

Murphy can have a place in our risk assessment. He does not have to write our life story.

Is “I cannot do this” the same as “I have not figured it out yet”?

No. The difficulty is the same in both, but the second one leaves you room to try.

Marie Forleo wrote a book with a title I like very much: Everything Is Figureoutable, by Marie Forleo. What I like about that title is the invitation in it. You do not need to have the answer before you are willing to look for it.

Think of a student looking at a mathematics problem. One student closes the book and says, “I am not a mathematics person.” Another student asks, “Which step do I not understand?” The second question does not solve the problem. However, it gives the student a place to begin.

This is what I mean when I talk about learning to learn. It is not about how many hours you spend with the book open. It is about getting better at knowing what you understand, what you do not understand, and what to try next.

So be careful. Do not turn what you do not know today into a permanent statement of what is possible.

Is this just positive thinking?

No. I am not asking you to feel cheerful. I am asking you to keep looking for what is possible, even on a difficult day.

Helen Keller wrote in Optimism: An Essay, which you can read in full at Project Gutenberg:

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.”

I do not read this as a request to be happy all the time. You can be hopeful and tired at the same time. You can believe in a good future and still be disappointed with what happened today. You can go into an important conversation with both courage and nervousness.

It is easy to believe in the future when everything is going well. The real test is an ordinary working day when progress is slow. After all, hope is not a substitute for the work. It is one of the reasons we return to the work.

Will the universe really help you?

I cannot promise you that. What I can say is that people can only help with what they can see.

Paulo Coelho wrote in The Alchemist, in a line you can find among Paulo Coelho’s quotations on Wikiquote:

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

There is something deeply encouraging about this thought. Having said that, I do not take it as a promise that the world will arrange itself around my wishes. For me, it is an invitation to participate.

Have the conversation. Ask the question. Make the proposal. Share your work. Give someone the chance to help you, to challenge you, or to respond to you.

The mountaineer W. H. Murray wrote something similar in The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. Many people credit these words to Goethe, but Quote Investigator traced the passage to W. H. Murray:

“…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”

Some of us understand Providence through faith. But there is also a very practical side to it. When your wish stays private, nobody can respond to it. Once you start, show a small piece of work and tell people where you are heading, they have something to respond to.

A vision deserves more than our admiration. It deserves our participation.

How does this apply to my own work?

It applies directly, because I have had to become a beginner again.

I am building Idasara Academy, an online learning platform for Sri Lanka in English, Sinhala and Tamil. There is a real product, and more than a year of work behind it. The challenge now is not to imagine something into existence. The challenge is to help people understand it, experience it, choose it and keep benefiting from it.

I used to think that a good product sells itself. It does not. Selling is a different act from building.

So what kind of optimism do I need? It is not the kind that says, “People must buy because we have worked hard.” I need the kind that says, “There may be a better way to connect the value we have created with the people who need it. Let us find out what that takes.”

When sales and marketing become the bottleneck, commitment means facing that work directly. It means listening to people, making the offer clearer, improving the experience, and learning from what people actually decide to buy.

Believe in the mission enough to question the method.

What do you do when it does not work?

You look into it before you give up.

Michael Faraday, the scientist, wrote this in his laboratory journal in March 1849. It is recorded among Michael Faraday’s quotations on Wikiquote:

“Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature; and in such things as these, experiment is the best test of such consistency.”

Do not dismiss the wonderful. But do not abandon reality either. In Buddhist teaching there is a word, ehipassiko, which means “come and see”. A belief worth holding is one you can examine for yourself.

So when something does not work, ask questions. Was the assumption wrong? Was the approach not suitable? Was the execution incomplete?

Sometimes you need another attempt. Sometimes you need help. Sometimes you need a different route. And sometimes you need to stop a particular approach, because the evidence no longer supports it. Changing the method is not abandoning the vision.

There is one more thing I want to say here. We should never use optimism to blame people who struggle. A disappointing result does not mean that someone did not believe enough. Resources, opportunities, other people’s choices and circumstances all matter.

How can you practise this every day?

With two simple questions.

Before you start the important work of the day, ask yourself:

What can work here, and what can I do today to help it work?

At the end of the day, ask yourself:

What did I learn that should change my next step?

That is all. You do not need a complicated ritual. For me, this is a form of manifestation I can take seriously: intention connected to attention, action and reflection.

Stay positive

I am not asking you to stop thinking about what can go wrong. Check your assumptions. Prepare for failure. Protect what matters.

But after that, do not leave the conversation unfinished. Ask what could go right. Ask what it would take. Ask which of those things you can start today.

I will look for the possibility. I will do the work. I will listen to the evidence. I will change what needs changing. And I will not make pessimism the price of appearing sensible.

Let Murphy remind us to prepare. Let possibility remind us to begin.

Stay positive.

Sources

The quotations in this post come from these sources:

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