Increase Your Goal Capacity
When we set a goal, inherent in its character, it will be beyond our present capacity.
Even a goal to paint the fence on the weekend will require adjustment to our present weekend habit.
We have the capacity to paint the fence, but the looming threat to success is the decisions those around us may make, which could derail us.
That is why, mid week, we announce to all parties “I’m painting the fence on Saturday!”
Painting may not be a glamorous as Olympic or commercial success, but the process is the identical; once the goal is set we must anticipate what could go wrong and increase our capacity to handle calamity.
For instance, an athlete may have trained meticulously for twelve years to be at the Olympics, then before the opening ceremony they learn they are required to walk 5km to the opening ceremony, stand waiting for three hours, then parade for several hours before walking home again.
Their internal conflict is immense. They don’t want to reject the ceremony or the directions of administrators. They know that withdrawing form the ceremony will incite the wrath of organizers who are charged with getting everyone there. They know that as a result decisions later may not fall in their favor. They know they may get labeled selfish by the media. Yet the way this ceremony is organized will massively impact their body for competition; and that means more grief later when everyone is annoyed at the medal count.
The situation may seem different to situations you find yourself in, and the solution more obvious, but it is the same. The goal we desire is inside one aspect of our skillset. Yet our failure will be a result of a skill area we are weak in; conflict resolution, relationships, finances, communication skills, management, marketing, personal branding, public speaking. And all the variables are emotionally charged.
Obviously we can never anticipate all that could go wrong. We can’t plan every response for every situation. So the solution is not about a plan, it is to increase our capacity. We need to ‘be’ more.
This is often confused with working harder. Working harder is not a solution, just as adding more detergent does not make your dishes cleaner.
The effective strategy is to recognize which mood you are most resourceful in, and what attitude you have when you navigate the impossible.
These two things must then to be trained into a habitual strength. So strong that the mood and attitude never cowers in the face of what appears to be an impossible obstacle.
If your resourceful mood is ‘player’ and the attitude it ‘we still need to find a way’ then use this consistently, in all situations, even outside your field of endeavour. Make it strong!
This muscle will be the guts of your capacity and your ongoing ability to deliver on goals.
All we can do is ‘be’ a person who navigates the impossible.