Impossible? 

Stretching Beyond What You Think You Can Achieve

We have all, at some point, dreamed of being someone even more special, even more successful than we see ourselves as being now. As a coach, I often hear people's dreams of being richer, more successful, getting that book deal, building a business, becoming famous, more attractive, happy, enjoying a better quality  of life, having more fun relationships - list goes on. 

However, I also know the next step for some people pre/or instead of coachingis to convince themselves why they haven’t got it, why they shouldn’t have it, and then finally that they should stop dreaming anyway and be ‘real’ instead. Ouch!!!

Failure To Launch

Writer and authority on goal setting, Brian Tracy suggests most people give up on a new idea even before they've tried it once! An unfortunate, though often used phrase you'll probably recognize and that explains this process perfectly is 'failure to launch'.

Here’s the thing, dreaming and dreams are essential. Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately though, those dreams usually remain just that – dreams; aspirations of who we could be and what we could achieve locked away and collecting dust in the attic. 

The Fantastic Zone

This is a sad, because instead of experiencing exciting adventures, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day just barely existing, a place I refer to when training as ‘the grey zone’ – a place not as great as life in ‘the fantastic zone’, and not as terrible ‘the awful zone’, simply a place that’s…well, just grey.  

You’ll know when someone’s living in ‘the grey zone’ when they talk about life as ‘not too bad/mustn’t grumble/hanging in there/treading water/could be better/so-so’. The question you need to ask yourself is, ‘which zone do I live in right now, and is this the zone I want to stay in?’ If not, and if you do want to get into the flow-of-life that living in ‘the fantastic zone’ is, this will be the perfect article to help you begin that journey. 

The most common problem to setting amazing goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can't do this. It's too hard. It's impossible. No one can do this. I can’t do this. 

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment. 

Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. However, no one told the bumble bee, thankfully, so fly it does! 

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them…and the result is usually broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.  

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream. 

Exercise  

• Take a piece of paper and write down some goals you have in life right now. Under one header, list things ‘I know you can do’. Under another header, write the things ‘I might be able to do.’ And under one more header, list the things that are ‘impossible for me to do.’ 
• Next, look at all the first header and strive every day to accomplish each of the things you marked, ‘I know you can do’. Check them off one at a time as you are able to accomplish them, and next each item list three qualities you noticed in yourself as a result of achieving them.  
• Now move on to your 2^nd and 3^rd lists, things ‘I might be able to do, and ‘impossible for me to do’ - only this time I want you to alternate one at a time between the lists. So, one time you work to achieve something marked ‘I might be able to do’, and then one ‘impossible for me to do’. You can choose tasks in any order, meaning you can start with the most achievable ‘I might be able to do this’ task, and then the easiest looking ‘impossible for me to do’ item. It’s your decision, and what I want you to do here is ‘set yourself up to succeed’. 
• Now here’s the magic; as you iterate through this process, you will find goals you thought ‘might be able’ to achieve, do become easier to accomplish. And the goals you previously though if as ‘impossible’ now begin to seem possible. 

The aim with this technique is to stretch your imagination as well as the belief you have about your own potential. It is to aim high, and start working towards your goals a step at a time. 

Those who simply ‘dream’ towards a goal without working well, and sometimes hard, to achieve it can so often end up disappointed and disillusioned. 

On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to go to the moon, they would have laughed at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, space travel, the internet and email are now realities. 

Dream Big!

So dream on, and as Donald Trump once said, ‘if you’re going to dream, you may as well dream big’!  

Don’t get caught up with perceived limitations. Think big, dream big and work hard to attain what you want, and as you step up the ladder of progress what you previously thought of as ‘impossible’ may well now become very much more ‘possible’ for you to achieve.