Module 11
Doing The Impossible

BENEFIT OF BEING UNREALISTIC

One of the first things that happens when you set an impossible goal is that your brain will seize up and tell you why it’s a bad idea and won’t happen. Often, this is when people will scale back their goal to be more realistic and reasonable, a.k.a. more comfortable.

This is the very reason humans shy away from goal setting. We don’t want to be uncomfortable and ultimately disappointed, because we know we won’t follow through. When you start the goal with a different language, your brain loses its “scaling back to comfort” effectiveness. If you already know the goal is “impossible” and you know you will fail, then there’s nothing for your brain to argue with.

Your brain might say, “If you know you’re going to fail, why in the world would you do it?”

Because the alternative is also failing – it’s just failing ahead of time.

We set a goal and then defeat ourselves before we even give it a solid effort. We think this type of failure is better because there is “nothing lost.” I want you to see how this is really a lie because we are losing out on the learning. We are losing out on the knowing because we have no idea what our lost opportunity could have been.

Failing repeatedly is how humans accomplish most great things. And  our failures ahead of time always guarantee to lead us nowhere.

WORTHY FAILS VS. ESCAPE FAILS

Don’t misunderstand me – I am not telling you to fail on purpose in order to escape discomfort.

That’s called an escape fail and they don’t provide you with much growth or value.

Some examples of escape fails include, but aren’t limited to:

? Not honoring your calendar
? Not following through on commitments
? Not taking action
? Changing your mind
? Staying confused
? Not showing up
? Giving up
? Lowering the standard
? Making excuses
? Justifying inaction
? Spending money to feel better

These could all be considered fails, but this type of failing is the failing ahead of time that doesn’t create any strategic byproducts. With this type of failure, you want to be curious but strong with yourself. Escaping and buffering are the opposite of what you want to be doing. Escape failure is actually failing ahead of time, which really means avoiding the worthy failures that keep us evolving.

Worthy failures are going to be fails, not because of the action you don’t take, but rather because of the action you do take and not getting the exact result you want. The more worthy fails you can accumulate, the better.

You know, we are never really taught to fail. We are taught that F’s are bad when we are growing up. This programming has contributed to steering us away from starting new things and changing. We are trained at an early age to think about failure in a negative way. But the truth is, failure is REQUIRED for success. You can not succeed unless you have failed at least once – I don’t know anyone who was successful at anything they’ve never tried before on their first attempt.

If you limit yourself to what you already do well, your world becomes small.

You must be willing to to open yourself up to doing the impossible and failing regularly, so your life becomes so much bigger.

GOAL SELECTION

ASK YOURSELF:
? Do you have an impossible goal that you would be thrilled to accomplish, but you haven’t been going after it because you believe it’s impossible?
? What is your impossible goal for the next year?
? What is the date and time it will be accomplished?
? What is the exact result that proves it is done?

Make sure that you are crystal clear about your goal and that when you explain it to someone, you should know exactly how you can measure it.

OBSTACLES

ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER:
? Write down all the reasons this goal is impossible.

This is the brain’s turn to be heard. You want to let your brain let it all out, like a cognitive enema.

Capture a thought download from your brain about why you think your impossible goal will never work and why you shouldn’t even try it.

I encourage you to let your brain whine, complain, and make excuses. It’s ok to blame and victim and doubt and confuse right now. Your brain is going to do it anyway – this is your chance to get it all out.

STRATEGIES

Think of someone who could accomplish this goal. Think of someone who has already accomplished it or someone who, if they stepped into
your life right now, could get it done.

ASK YOURSELF:
? What qualities do they have that you need to develop?
? How do they think differently than you?
? What do they do that is different from what you do?
? What type of person do you need to become to accomplish this impossible goal?

You are going to embody this new version of yourself. Imagine fast forwarding to your future and becoming this future self who has accomplished this goal.

Now go back through your previous thought download and ask your future self how they overcame each of these obstacles.

Write the strategy for each one.

FAILING WELL – WINNING OR LEARNING

Setting an impossible goal and taking massive action to accomplish it DOES NOT mean lots of action and then burning themselves out. Nor does it mean working more hours than normal.

It does mean doing work that will cause them lots of emotional discomfort.

This will require you to work on your emotions. You will need to allow them, understand them, and even invite them.

Go back to Module 4 – The Power Of Emotions to support your impossible goal work.

The worst that can happen is an emotion and if there isn’t an emotion you aren’t willing to feel (Indomitable Self-Confidence Pillar 2), your whole world opens up.

Failing well means feeling. Failing well means not reacting. Failing well means not quitting or making excuses. Fall down. Get up. Fall down. Get up. It’s not possible that you can win if you never fail.

The goal of this work is not to win at your goal. You will have some wins, but mostly you will have learning. Both are worthy and valuable. Don’t get too lured by the win because the win can be a momentary, soft place to land. You won’t stay there too long and shouldn’t make it mean anything too important. The win can be fun and the learning can be fun.

There is no doubt that you will grow and expand by attempting the impossible.

WORKSHEETS

(Click to download)

Complete This Worksheet And Refer Back To It Each Quarter (Every 3 Months)