P.G. Wodehouse

“Never confuse the unusual with the impossible.”
P.G. Wodehouse

My wife and I love reading, or listening, to P.G. Wodehouse. He is my favorite humorist and is widely considered the greatest writer of the 20th century. Wodehouse created the archetypal aristocrat and butler relationship in his Jeeves and Wooster series, which is laugh-out-loud funny stuff. Every butler in every book or movie or TV show you have ever seen was modeled after Jeeves. William F. Buckley, when asked to name the top 100 books of the 20th century, replied, “Well let’s see, Wodehouse wrote ninety-seven, so that would leave three others.”

So let’s just say that Wodehouse himself accomplished the “unusual.” The son of an English civil servant, he was raised in fairly humble circumstances, away from home, by a series of nannies who, by all accounts, cared little for him or his three brothers. Apparently, their parents cared little for them too as they virtually never lived with them. This was not, as it may seem, a rich kid’s upbringing but rather an upbringing that provided an education and little more. Yet, he is considered one of the finest humorists in history. What he did was unusual, but not impossible. He turned a less than desirable beginning into something great. He was knighted by the Queen-unusual, but not impossible.

When I find myself thinking that something can’t be done, or that it can be done but not by me, I think of Wodehouse, or Plum as his friends called him, and I try again. So, this is the question: are there people who do what you do, who are having a great year, working with their very best clients, and living the life of their dreams? If they can do it, so can you. They are seeing either more people or wealthier people than you are. They have expertise that you may not have, or have and don’t use, or they are partnering with someone who does. They have access to opportunities that are within your reach or within the reach of a partner you could work with. It can be done, as others are clearly doing it, and so can you. If you don’t have “it,” you can learn it or borrow it by partnering with those who do. That is what I do, and it is as simple as that.