by Richard Nugent

A very Happy New Year from all of us at Kaizen Training.  Here’s hoping your festive season was fabulous – and that 2010 brings you all you wish for!

As you begin to read this tip, I’d like you to consider, at least for the length of time it takes you to read it, whether you would like to achieve something that you previously considered impossible.

Notice, if you haven’t already, howeven the thought of that makes you feel.  For a few of you, there may be scepticism, anxiety, irritation or sadness – or the sense that you really just want to get on with the day job rather than starting anything foolish like the “impossible”.

For many others, your eyes will have widened – and there will be a small sense of anticipation.  Great.  You release the reward chemical, dopamine, even when you just anticipate nice things happening in the future.  If you are ready, then in the next few minutes you will have begun your journey towards achieving the “impossible”.

What is an impossible project?

The initial distinction is a simple one.  When you set the goal you genuinely think that it can’t be done.  There is a difference between a goal that you know is going to be incredibly hard, and one that you perceive as “impossible”.

For example, one client was trying to work out how to increase the average amount spent per customer in his shops.  His target increase was around 3%.  When I asked him to consider whether doubling his target was “impossible”, he paused and looked into the distance.  A signal to me that he didn’t consider it impossible – incredibly difficult, yes – but not impossible.

When I suggested increasing the target by 1000% the response was immediate.  ”No way!  That’s ridiculous!  Completely impossible!”.  I then coached the client to create a number of possible first steps towards achieving this “impossible” target.  The result was amazing – but more on that later.

The key point is that when we start to work out how to do the impossible, we trigger a whole different thought pattern.  We don’t draw on the same ‘rules’ or solutions that we apply when we look to increase results incrementally or gradually.

Henry Ford said: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.  And Albert Einstein:  ”A problem cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created it”.

The impossible project allows those considering it to apply new and unreasonable thinking to a problem in order to develop solutions that previously could not even have surfaced with the old ‘reasonable’ thought processes.

So back to my client who initially was struggling to work out how to increase the spend in his shops.  Normally, he would consider how to squeeze margins, get more from his suppliers or generally market more of the same.  This time he was thinking in a very different way – how could he transform the way he used his shop space?

He came up with a dream idea – an ideal way of making a huge impact on average customer spend AND it was relatively easy to do.  It would also attract a whole new type of visitor into his shops.  What was it?  Well, you’ll have to e-mail me to find out (I don’t get the chance to do cliff-hangers in tips very often so I just had to make the most of the opportunity! E-mail us at directors@kaizen-training.com with the heading “Impossible Project”)

What I will share with you now is what the client said.  ”This is crazy – I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this before.  In fact, I can’t believe the company hasn’t thought of it before.  It’s brilliant!  Even better, I feel like I have created the impossible.  It’s a win for me, for the customers – and for the whole business.  Fantastic!”

This week’s call to action

It’s a relatively simple one.  Think of an impossible project in your work – or your whole life.  Make it ridiculous and exciting at the same time.

Do it!

Then tell us your story – we’ll send a special gift to the most inspiring stories.