“I want to make an extra $100,000 this year.” “I am going to run an ultra marathon.” “I am going to lose 50 pounds and keep the weight off.” “We are going to triple our sales.” “I am going to get a meaningful, rewarding job that lets me balance my life and still pays well.”
What happens when we consider very large goals? Frequently, we back away. They seem too impossible. “That’s nutty. I do not want to push as hard as I would need to in order to hit this goal. No, thanks.”
Yet the apparent impossibility is the very thing that makes large goals possible.
Consider the large goal of earning much more money. From a certain perspective, making and extra $100,000 or even $1,000,000 per year is easier that making an extra $1,000 per year. How so? Because you can make and extra $1,000 by doing a bit more of what you do now. Making an extra $10,000 might mean pressing even harder. But I don’t think anyone can push so hard that they can make an extra hundred grand or mil. No, jumps of that scale demand you think differently.
Unable to rely on our old ways, new ways become the solution. New ways start with new thoughts. “If I were to make an extra $100,000 this year, what would I have to believe, think, or do to make that happen?” These thoughts are only different, not difficult, to think.
What might be your large, nutty, “impossible” goal?
In your corner,
Mike
Today’s photo credit: Suraj Manandhar via photopin cc
Mike
I really liked this post. Challenging ourselves to “think differently” is one of the most difficult, yet most valuable thing that we could do – at work, in our personal lives and for our own happiness. Years and years of “a little bit more” results in “a little bit more OF THE SAME” vs. something different.
Very provoking and counter-intuitive… Reading the first paragraph I thought for sure you were going to coach against this kind of goals. But voila! Of course, why limit yourself before the naysayers would?
Can’t do more of the same-old. Today’s post lit up a lightbulb for me. Thanks
Wow, yes. Very well said, Debbie.
Hi Anita,
Thank you for say so! There is an approach goal setting (large-nutty-impossible or otherwise) that I would coach against: any goal setting process that feels bad. More on this soon.
Mike