Routh Address, Monday 9th February 2026
It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
Read by Ayaan
Some members of the Sixth Form will be fortunate enough to be able to drive, and some may even have their own car. Whether or not we are in that lucky position, I wonder how often we offer to give the car in which we are driven, a clean.
I have to confess that I quite enjoy car washing... a quick spray with the hose, a wash with car shampoo, a rinse, and then a dry with a chamois leather. I occasionally break off for a slurp of tea and often end up chatting with neighbours. In the space of about forty minutes, a dirty car is transformed into a clean, shiny one. Limited skill is required, you can think about other things while hosing, washing, and drying, and the next time the car is driven it looks just that bit smarter — no mud around the wheel arches and no grime across the number plate. There is something deeply satisfying about getting the job done.
By contrast, some of you may have visited the Sagrada Família, the basilica in Barcelona designed by Antoni Gaudí. Construction of the unique building began in 1882, with tall spired towers and stained glass that casts coloured light inside the church. Yet although it is now 100 years since Gaudí died, construction continues – the job he started is still not finished
Changing the subject completely, nearly a hundred years ago in the 1930s, a Jewish psychologist in Germany called Bluma Zeigarnik noticed something interesting in cafés. Waiters, she observed, could remember unpaid orders in extraordinary detail, but once the bill was settled, they usually forgot the order almost immediately. The task was finished, so the brain let it go.
I wonder if that feels familiar…that tricky email that needs a reply. We delay, agonise over what to say, and it preys on our minds. When we finally send it, the sense of relief is immediate, and we are free to focus on other things. The same is even more true of a difficult conversation we know we need to have. And how many of us have gone to bed thinking far more about the work we haven’t done than the tasks we have completed?
From her café observations, Zeigarnik concluded that unfinished tasks remain more active in our minds than completed ones. When something is incomplete, the brain holds on to it. When it is finished, we stop worrying about it
At this time of year, revision looms large and coursework deadlines are around the corner. Most of us have a list of tasks to tick off, and there is a chance that we can feel overwhelmed, distracted, or a little anxious — even when we’re not working — because our brain is carrying a long list of unfinished tasks: the essay not yet started, the revision that still needs to be done, or the past paper we will attempt – when we get round to it. Procrastination does not remove work from our minds; rather, it traps it there. When we put things off — as we all do from time to time — our brain finds ways to remind us, as we lie in bed, stare at the TV, or distract ourselves with other activities.
However, our brain doesn’t demand perfection; it demands closure. That is why starting is often more powerful than trying to finish everything at once. When we break revision into small, clearly defined tasks and complete them, the brain releases that tension and frees up space to think properly.
So instead of setting telling ourselves we need to revise Physics, committing to really understanding waves for two hours is a job that can be done. Instead of doing maths completing questions 1–6 on trigonometry is more realistic and each small task we finish gives our brain permission to move on and we feel better.
Sometimes we wait until we find that motivation to get going. However, most of us feel more motivated after action. Once we have tackled that first chunk of work, we are more likely to feel in the right frame of mind to keep going.
You may perhaps have wondered, how would I eat an elephant? The answer, of course is one bite at a time and ticking tasks off our list feels satisfying – one bit at a time.
So, take the opportunity to make those essential tasks smaller; start sooner than feels necessary and finish bit by bit and the sense of achievement will follow…and to end where Ayaan started: tackle the thing that “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.