Prior to May 6, 1954 many had thought that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.  Over one hundred years of recorded attempts, no one was a ble to do it.  A popular myth was that doing so would cause the runner’s heart to explode.  Yet on that late spring day, Roger Bannister, despite all the naysayers and history, did the impossible.

Here’s the cool part… Roger Bannister opened the floodgates of success.  By the end of the 20th century the record books would be rewritten 18 times by others saying, “If he could do it, so can I!”

The current record stands at 3 minutes 43.13 seconds.

Forbes just published an article profiling 34 celebrities, entrepreneurs, and other successful people, answering questions about the biggest risks they’d taken.  Here are a couple that really stood out for me.

• Robin Chase launched ZipCar with $78 left in her bank account.
• Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, maxed out 11 credit cards to keep his company afloat.
• Kai and Charles Huang, creators of Guitar Hero, were $2 million in debt when they launched the product.

I wonder, what will you say when your time now comes to answer that question?

[photo credit: the-jedi]