Defying The Challenges – Day 5

Defying The Challenges – Impossible Goals Are Possible

One of the things I do with my clients is to identify the impossible and help them to discover ways of creating the possible through exponential impact of their goals.

We are often taught in life to keep our feet on the ground and focus on the possible because the impossible is simply wishful or magical thinking. A fantasy that shouldn’t be entertained. Yet thinking and acting on the apparent impossible is what separates the high-achievers from the herd and sets the bar that others eventually wish to follow. High-achievers keep raising the bar and do so consistently.

Ten Times The Power

When a leader leverages an idea or goal to address a big challenge in their life or business, I call this “Ten-Times Impact”. Often the biggest risk that people who are willing to go down the road of Ten-Times impact see is the risk of doing nothing. That is what sets them apart from the herd.

Three Examples

• Honda: Set a goal to take well-to-wheel CO2 emissions down to zero.
• German rail operator, Deutsche Bahn: Aim to achieve rail transport that is CO2-free and powered by renewable energy.
• Maersk: Will safely recycle all their ships at the end of serviceable life.

Lofty goals perhaps but each is the vision of one person who worked to get others on-board with a common goal to make a difference. Together these companies have risen to the challenge of making a difference for humanity.

For some, these will be seen as impossible goals. There are too many factors that might lead to failure.

• What are their odds of success?
• What do you think, 10, 20, 30%?
• Or, do you think that Honda, Deutsche Bahn and Maersk have indeed set impossible goals that are doomed to fail because they failed to consider all the variables?

Common Factors

What they all have is a starting point. The first step along the journey to possible, therefore there is no impossible. They know what their ideal goal is and are not focused on the ideal of being happy when or if. Their focus is the place they are coming from and they take consistent and passionate action every step of the way because Passionate Action Changes Things. They are inspirational and wow their audience with their desire to succeed.

There is no expectation of short-term gain or profit because what they are attempting addresses big challenges that are going to take time to solve. They have radical solutions that need working out and that attracts attention from people who want to help. Of course, there will always be people who can never take the IM away from impossible to create the possible.

Nuclear engineer and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Leslie Dewan is revolutionizing the field of nuclear power by designing a way to power our world with nuclear waste by shifting the way we look at and work with nuclear waste. This is a potential momentous change that currently, not everybody understands.

Reaching For The Impossible

Try this six-step process to set your own Impossible Goal.

1. Think of something you’d love to create that seems like an impossible goal right now. It generates energy, strikes an element of fear and makes your soul sing.
2. This is not an “I will be happy when, xyz” goal and it is not a goal that an important aspect of your life depends on right now. If that is the case, it may well matter very much, but it doesn’t fall into the category of impossible goals so, return to the first step.
3. We are treading a fine line between excitement and fear. Impossible Goals sit right on that line and you with them. The excitement should inspire you to act, but not so much so that you’re not grounded. Fear offers clues that your impossible goal is something you really want but not so much that it causes you to panic and freeze into inaction. On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you about this goal?
4. What will it cost to achieve this goal? Write a few words to your Impossible Goal to address this. Ask yourself this question every day about your Impossible Goal:
5. Who will I have to be to make this happen?
6. Find someone to hold this Impossible Goal for you; someone who believes in you. Such as a coach, mentor or a colleague. Remember to focus on where you are coming from and take frequent steps toward the impossible to make it possible.

More Tools That Help

Relating to these there are plenty of tools in addition to the one presented here that can help with your Personal Growth and Development whether you feel challenged or just seek to advance the way you respond to your world. If you would like a free 20-minute coaching session on some of these, please leave your contact details in the comments and you will receive a prompt response. Alternatively, you can send an email. Please understand that your contact details will never be shared outside ExGro.

Please understand that free sessions are extremely popular and have become limited.

Toolbox

There are many ways to effectively explore and advance your Personal Development in any area of life that matters to you. A box of tools to challenge the boundaries and move forward toward realizing success is extremely beneficial.

If you feel that you may benefit from help in any area with more than a 20-minute consult, please leave your contact details in the comments section below and you will be contacted by your preferred method. Please understand that your contact details will never be published, and your privacy is assured.

More Information

If you would like to know more about ExGro Services and Events, please click over to the Education For Life menu item.

Comments and Questions

Leave yours below. Your thoughts or questions may well ignite a positive spark in other readers thinking. You will always receive a prompt response to your questions and there is no such thing as a bad question; only the one that was never asked.

Namasté

I bow to the place in you that is love, light, and joy

Peace & Light

Steve Costello is a British Community & Youth Studies and Psychology honors graduate with over 30-years theoretical and practical experience coaching in the Personal Development public and private sectors. He founded ExGro in 2018 with business partner, clinical psychologist and friend, Leo Faerberg.