"Nothing is an obstacle unless you say it is"
About this Quote
“Nothing is an obstacle unless you say it is” is entrepreneurship distilled into a single, slightly dangerous sentence. Wally Amos, the businessman who turned a personal brand into a cultural product, isn’t selling naïve positivity so much as a posture: obstacles don’t disappear, but their power is negotiated in language first. Call something an obstacle and you’ve already granted it authority over your next move; refuse the label and you keep leverage, momentum, options.
The line works because it quietly shifts the locus of control from the world to the self, then frames that shift as a choice. “Unless you say it is” makes defeat sound like a kind of self-administered policy: a story you pass, repeat, and eventually obey. That’s classic business psychology, where morale is a resource and narrative is infrastructure. Startups and small businesses don’t just compete on capital; they compete on stamina, and stamina is often a matter of interpretation.
There’s subtext, too: in markets that reward audacity, the person who treats barriers as “constraints” rather than “stoppers” stays in the game longer. Amos’s own trajectory as a Black entrepreneur building “Famous Amos” in a system not designed for him gives the line extra bite. It reads as a survival tactic masquerading as a motivational poster: naming the wall is sometimes necessary, but letting it become your identity is optional.
Still, the quote’s edge is its blind spot. Some obstacles are structural and don’t care what you “say.” Amos’s point isn’t denial; it’s strategy. Don’t outsource your agency to the first difficulty that introduces itself.
The line works because it quietly shifts the locus of control from the world to the self, then frames that shift as a choice. “Unless you say it is” makes defeat sound like a kind of self-administered policy: a story you pass, repeat, and eventually obey. That’s classic business psychology, where morale is a resource and narrative is infrastructure. Startups and small businesses don’t just compete on capital; they compete on stamina, and stamina is often a matter of interpretation.
There’s subtext, too: in markets that reward audacity, the person who treats barriers as “constraints” rather than “stoppers” stays in the game longer. Amos’s own trajectory as a Black entrepreneur building “Famous Amos” in a system not designed for him gives the line extra bite. It reads as a survival tactic masquerading as a motivational poster: naming the wall is sometimes necessary, but letting it become your identity is optional.
Still, the quote’s edge is its blind spot. Some obstacles are structural and don’t care what you “say.” Amos’s point isn’t denial; it’s strategy. Don’t outsource your agency to the first difficulty that introduces itself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Overcoming Obstacles |
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