Recently, someone told me about an opportunity she almost missed because it had never occurred to her that the thing she wanted to do was possible. Her story was a good reminder that sometimes, if we are not looking carefully for the opportunity, we miss it entirely.
When we are busy and trying to get a lot done, it’s easy to fall into a mindset that limits our outcome and our opportunities before we even begin.
Far too many times we set our expectations by thinking about what we’d be “okay with” instead of by thinking about what we really truly want. We got locked into a mindset we call “practicality” and eliminate possibilities because we assume that we don’t have the keys to doors that we aren’t even sure are locked. In this “practical” mindset we eliminate possibilities without even considering them because they don’t seem like the most likely outcome or because we don’t have a clear idea of how we would make them happen.
If we approach a situation focused on what isn’t possible, what we can’t afford, or what probably won’t occur, if we narrow our expectations because of our weight or the economy or our age or anything else, we are almost guaranteed to have a very different outcome than if we approach a situation with our dream outcome — our ultimate vision in mind.
If we don’t allow ourselves to think about what we really desire, it’s easy to live in a world that is limited by our preexisting baseline or by the expectations others may have previously helped us set. That prevents growth.
If we don’t allow ourselves to explore what we really want, sometimes we miss incredible possibilities. In contrast, when we start a project with a vision of our dream outcome in our mind, it’s not unusual to find that the path is not totally blocked and even that the door opens more easily than we thought. Sometimes we actually find that door wide open.
Going after a dream instead of pursuing the most practical version of your goal will likely also increase your energy, motivation, and willingness to persevere as you work through any difficult challenges along the way.
Here are two questions that can help you tap into more possibilities and can help you shift from “practical” to “open to possibility”.
Tuck these questions inside your brain and practice asking them to yourself:
What do I really want?
And what would I do if anything was possible?