Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast...

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things…”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

I was never proud of my overactive imagination.

I could create entire narratives in my mind in a matter of seconds, sometimes to my benefit, and also largely to my detriment. As I grew in my career, I was labeled with fancier terms coined as "strengths."

"She's strong in ideation and strategy…" which in my mind just meant a resourceful daydreamer and manipulative on my bad days.

Nothing about my brain had ever felt "safe." The way it operated, thought, and created its own master plans had always been a source of great discomfort. I was always embarrassed by how quickly my mind could change and how easily I could become bored with an idea I'd spent hours on.

Until this year, when God so faithfully placed me in an environment that would consistently affirm why these gifts were a blessing instead of a burden. Change will happen whether I want it to or not and perhaps the biggest strength I'm learning is adapting to it.

Head in the Clouds; Feet On The Ground…

Most of my dreams involve statistically true uncertainty; so what if the most atomic piece of the faithful mindset is an above-average tolerance of it?

To keep my brain in balance, I have to actively seek out the most audacious things I'm capable of doing and remember that my best opportunities and areas for growth are in the spaces I least expected.

It’s not enough to believe in your impossible idea. You must also believe in impossible execution:

1. Have a seemingly impossible goal.

2. Assume that is it in fact possible.

3. Rule out the truly impossible (or highly improbable) ways forward—solutions that take infinite time, defy the laws of physics, etc.

4. Find something to try that you have no idea if it will work—and then try it.

5. Evaluate. Did it work? What did you learn?

6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 until you have enough data to create a new statistical understanding of something that was previously uncertain.

“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”

Thinking about things this way helps you develop a spider sense for the in-roads that allow you to chip away at bigger problems. You begin to think anything is possible, but you are also able to grasp when it's not.

I've Let A Million Dreams Die…

Creatives, in particular, have a unique relationship with reality and in order to conjure something new, we must risk. Risk insinuates that something could go just as wrong as it could go right, but it's OK to let your dreams die so long as you allow yourself to resurrect to new ones.

Time and time again I've died to a dream because I knew God would resurrect me. That isn't giving up when I know and understand that a more suited task will come.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord..." Jeremiah 29:11

The thinking is magical, but the process is not

Unrealistic expectations can be the bed rocks of disappointment. To expect that you will not fail is a dangerous place to live; but to let our hands and feet be nimble in the process is where we posture ourselves to receive some of our greatest blessings.

“Do you think I’ve gone round the bend?”

“I’m afraid so. You’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

My boss once asked me "How do you eat an elephant?" I stared back at him with nothing but confusion on my face. With a smile, he responded: "one bite at a time."

Dream your dreams sweet friends; and don't be afraid to take your "impossible" thing, one step at a time!

#KeepitWhyld,

Coach B