Affirmation · “The Subconscious Says Yes”
Possibility Thinking
Break the reflex of declaring a problem impossible by assuming a solution exists and deliberately generating ways it could be done.
Catch the “it’s impossible” reflex.
- Assume a solution exists; say so.
- List how it COULD be done, not why it can’t.
- Decide first, solve the “how” after.
- Use daily on small problems to build the habit.
What it is
Schuller’s foundational move, and the one he built a ministry on. When a problem or goal first looks impossible, possibility thinking is the deliberate refusal to accept that verdict, replaced by the working assumption that a solution exists and the task is only to find it.
He called the opposite habit “the impossibility complex” or “impossibility thinking” — the mind’s reflex to list reasons something can’t be done. Possibility thinking inverts that reflex: instead of cataloguing why not, you catalogue how it could be.
Where Peale’s positive thinking is largely about a confident inner attitude, Schuller’s distinctive contribution is aimed outward at problems and goals: turn a problem into a possibility, and “never say never.”
The Method
- Catch the impossibility verdict. Notice the instant the mind says “that’s impossible / it can’t be done / there’s no way.” Schuller treats this as a reflex to intercept, not a fact to accept.
- Assume a solution exists. Adopt as a working premise: there is a way; I just haven’t found it yet. This is the affirmation underneath the technique — a stance, repeated, that reframes the situation as solvable.
- Deliberately list how it COULD be done. Force the mind to generate possibilities — funding, allies, partial steps, different routes — rather than obstacles. Schuller’s own image (from the Possibility Thinker’s Creed, ministry medallion, 1976): faced with a mountain, you do not quit — you “keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold mine.”
- Separate the stages. “Never bring the problem-solving stage into the decision-making stage” — i.e. don’t let “I can’t see how” kill the decision that it should be done; decide it’s worth doing, then solve the how afterward.
- Make it a habit, not a one-off. Repeated refusal of “impossible” across small daily situations conditions the reflex (The Inner Creates the Outer), so the default response to a challenge becomes a search for possibility. (Sourcing note: “possibility thinking,” “turn a problem into a possibility,” and the Creed are Schuller’s branded language across Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking (1967) and the Hour of Power; short fair-use quotation.)
Source & Lineage
Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking (1967) is the headline source; the idea runs through his whole corpus and the Possibility Thinker’s Creed (1976). Schuller credited Norman Vincent Peale as his mentor and built directly on Peale’s positive thinking, pushing it from inner attitude toward action on “impossible” goals.; mentor.
Common refinements
Confusing it with denial. Possibility thinking is not pretending constraints don’t exist; it’s refusing to let them end the search prematurely. State the real obstacles, then ask how each could be met.
- Ignoring the sunk-cost / bad-idea case. “Never say never” can keep someone pouring effort into a genuinely doomed plan. Pair this with the dream-testing method to decide whether a goal is worth the persistence.
- Affirming without acting. A confident “it’s possible” that generates no concrete next step is hollow; the list of how must produce at least one action.
- One-time use. The benefit is in the conditioned reflex; apply it to small problems daily so the default response shifts.