I preparation for the upcoming Lunch and Learn, How to Know What You Want I referenced ‘Supercoach’ Michael Neill’s book Creating the Impossible.  He provides parameters for taking on your impossible project and differentiates it from something you should, could or ought to do.   I believe that often we talk ourselves out of what we really want because we believe we might fail.  What if it did not matter?

Here are Michael’s guidelines for Creating the Impossible.

1.  You must have less than 20 percent chance of success.

2. You must be sufficiently inspired to what you want to create to be happy to invest time in creating it, regardless of how things work out

3. Your impossible project should be about creating a result, not a feeling or quality.

4. It’s not about you – meaning, this is not a self-improvement project for you.

5.  Choose one thing only.

You might think, “who would be crazy enough to decide to create something with such a small chance of succeeding?”  “Why would I want to put in time into something that may never materialize?” “Shouldn’t I be spending time on something that is more of a sure thing?”

The beauty of deciding to create the impossible is that you need not beat yourself up in the event of failure because you have already accepted failure as a possible outcome.   It is mean to be fun, exciting, inspiring and it relieves you of any burden to make it about a personal success.  It’s a grand experiment.  Many of Michael’s clients who set their sights on their impossible actually succeeded and surpassed their goal. 

What would you chose to create if it was all about the journey and not the destination? No need to worry about being too young, too old, not having sufficient resources or time, it being too hard, too complicated, too uncertain, whatever.

A client once stated that her greatest fear was a life not lived.   Here’s a chance to decide on a project and enjoy the adventure.  I am thinking dancing the tango in Buenos Aires with an awesome dance partner.   What about you?