3 actions extraordinary people take to achieve what seems impossible, from the co-founder of Moderna NBC4 Washington [Video]

If you need to tackle an improbable challenge, the right mindset — “a special kind of optimism” — can help, according to Moderna co-founder and chairman Noubar Afeyan.

The billionaire called it “paranoid optimism,” and said he’s “always practiced” this mindset during a commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last month. It involves “toggling back and forth between extreme optimism and deep-seated doubt,” so you can encourage your own inventiveness while still maintaining a sense of reason, he said.

“I’m utterly unreasonable and an eternal optimist,” added Afeyan, who completed a PhD in biochemical engineering at MIT and served as a lecturer there for more than a decade at the Sloan School of Management.

Specifically, Afeyan — who has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, according to Forbes — said that “extraordinary change agents” take three actions to achieve what seems impossible:

1. They imagine.
2. They innovate.
3. They immigrate.

Imagination plays a crucial role “in accomplishing impossible …