Think As Inc

A Matter of Life and Death

June 17, 2010 on 1:55 am | In life coaching | No Comments

I saw a Dateline Survival Story of a young hiker, getting caught in a blizzard, and surviving for days with only his lunch and water bottle.  (He didn’t sleep to prevent freezing to death and used the snow to refill his water bottle, first warming the bottle with his hands.)  This story illustrates an important point:  when you want something that badly, you will find a way.

This man wanted to live.  He realized, if he lived, he had a chance to be rescued.  He couldn’t do everything on his own (i.e., rescue himself from the mountain), so he focused only on what he could do:  stay alive – not alive for a certain time, not alive with all his belongings, just alive.

So it should be with our goals.  When we have the same life/death clarity, goal or no goal, we focus on what we can do.  However, many of us pick a goal and assign extraneous conditions to it.  We don’t just want to be a successful actor; we want to be a successful actor by a certain time (typically very soon after we decide to be an actor).  We don’t just want a fulfilling career and family; we want them both now and moving in lockstep each and every day. 

Unfortunately, goals are messier than that.  Our goals push our mental, physical and emotional limits.  Our goals conflict with other things that we want.  How do you know to keep pushing yourself?  You need life and death clarity about your goals.  If the goal is as meaningful to you as staying alive was to that survivor, then keep scrambling.    You may be rescued and have your dreams come true.