How do we usually create a goal, personal or business?  We take a look at what we’ve been able to do in the past and then either shoot for the same result or add a reasonable amount to it (like a 20% increase) and make that our goal. businessman hand with marker writing text think big

If we have a good strategy and the circumstances haven’t changed very much, we have a good chance to reaching our new goal.

If you are satisfied with incremental improvements, this strategy might work, unless the circumstances have changed (which, in today’s world, is very likely).   But what can you do if the world has changed significantly since the last time you tried something like this?  And even if the world hasn’t changed much, what if you want more than incremental improvements?  What if you want breakthroughs?  What if you want to achieve things that have never been achieved before?

You need a new approach

Let’s first be clear what I mean by a breakthrough. A breakthrough consists of seeing possibilities and opportunities that you did not see before.  Breakthroughs enable you to take actions you have not taken before, so you can produce results you have not produced before.  (I wrote an entire blog post about breakthroughs earlier this year.)

The single best way to create new possibilities and opportunities that did not exist for you before is to unlearn what you already think is true.

Possibilities and opportunities are largely a function of how you see yourself, people, and life. One set of beliefs closes down possibilities; unlearn those beliefs and possibilities appear, seemingly from out of nowhere.

Here’s another way of looking at this issue. There are an infinite number of possibilities and opportunities out there in reality. Your beliefs determine which ones you can see. Have you ever had the experience of reading about someone else’s breakthrough and thinking: Why didn’t I think of that? The answer: Because you had beliefs that blinded you to the possibility.

A practical example of being reasonable

Let me make this real.  Assume you wanted to make some major changes to your home or apartment; for example, you wanted to paint a few rooms or put up some wallpaper.  The last couple of times you did anything like this around the house you called three or four of your closest friends and asked for help; a couple of them showed up; it took a couple of days.  So you assume that you’ll probably get the same results this time: a couple of people will to spend a couple of days helping you do the painting or putting up the wallpaper.

But let’s assume you’d like to complete the project in just a few hours.  That doesn’t seem possible given your past results.  That’s unreasonable.  And it can’t be done given your beliefs.

What are some of the beliefs you’ve formed from your past experiences?  First, there are only three or four friends who you can impose upon to give you so much time.  Second, only some of them, probably half of them, will be willing to give up so much free time to do some hard work.  And finally, a job like this will take a couple of days given the number of people who will be available to do it.

Given these beliefs, you probably will do what you did last time and get the same results you got last time.  But what if you wanted a breakthrough?  What if you needed to complete the job in less than a day? We’ll assume that you still want it done for free without hiring a professional.  Can you get that it can’t be done given your beliefs, given the box you are in?

Obviously, the first thing to do is unlearn the beliefs about who you can ask, what percentage of them will agree to help, and how long it will take.  What if there is nothing you can’t do to complete the job in a couple of hours (without paying someone to do it)?

Imagine your own solution with no limitations

Before you read one version of how to be unreasonable, ask yourself: If I had no limiting beliefs regarding this project, what could I do to complete the job in just a few hours? …  Really, spend a minute and imagine no limitations.  How could you get help completing the job in just a few hours?  …

Okay, you’ve probably just found a viable solution on your own.  But let me give you just one possible scenario.  Instead of asking just your close friends, ask almost everyone you know.  Ands instead of asking them to help you do some work, ask them to come to a painting or wallpapering party, where you will serve food, play music, meet new people they don’t know, etc. When they arrive, put them into teams and have prizes for the team that accomplishes certain tasks the fastest with a predetermined level of quality.

This isn’t necessarily the best solution and there are probably ten other approaches that would work if you assumed no limitations on how you could achieve your goal.

By committing to a goal that seems impossible (that actually is impossible given your existing limiting beliefs), you are forced to unlearn those beliefs to reach your goal.  That enables you to achieve what initially seemed unreasonable.

What’s wrong with reasonable goals

Reasonable goals are consistent with what is predictable, what’s likely to happen, and are consistent with your existing beliefs.  To use a cliché, they are goals that exist “inside the box.”  You might achieve such goals, but they will never be remarkable; they will never be breakthroughs; they will never change the world.

An unreasonable goal, one that cannot be achieved in the current box, one that is not consistently with existing beliefs, requires you to unlearn existing beliefs. Breakthroughs require unreasonable goals.  If what you accomplished was not unreasonable to begin with, what you accomplished wasn’t a breakthrough.

A few examples of unreasonable goals

Roger Bannister did not merely set a goal of winning the mile race.  He set a goal of breaking the four-minute mile, something that had never been done before.

Google did not merely set a goal of building an effective search engine that would make money for the company.  It set a goal of making all the world’s information available to everyone, immediately, for free—something that had never been done before.

Remember Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” ad campaign.  It featured people who had achieved significant breakthroughs, including: Dylan, Einstein, Picasso, and Gandhi.  These were all people who saw things differently and who then went on the transform the world as we knew it.  They didn’t choose goals that were incrementally better than what they or others had already done.  They challenged the assumptions that most people had made about what was possible.

Real innovators don’t operate in the same world as the rest of us

As I said in a prior post, “The biggest barrier most people have to happiness and success is not an inability to deal with the world ‘as it really is.’  Their biggest barrier is a world filled with many self-imposed limitations.  They live in a reality of their own making—a world in which they are inadequate, in which they can’t get what they want from others, in which lots of things can’t be done, etc.”

Unlearn the beliefs you have that describe the world in which you are setting your goals.  Then you won’t have to think “outside the box”; you will have eliminated the box altogether.  Then the goals that would have been “unreasonable” given your old beliefs (and perhaps the beliefs of most other people), become “reasonable.”   Think about the scenario I described above where you had a project you needed help with.  Can you get how unlearning your beliefs turned your unreasonable goal into a very reasonable one?

We look at the people who changed the world and might think their accomplishments were miracles.  But those people didn’t see their accomplishments that way.  Given their beliefs about what was possible and their lack of beliefs about what was impossible, their goals made perfect sense and were perfectly reasonable.

Would you like to change the world?

More people would take on the job of changing the world—making it a better place to live for everyone—if they thought it was possible.  If you are one of those people, here’s how to create the mindset in which it becomes possible:

If you make a goal and it seems reasonable—something that you can achieve with enough time and effort—discard it.  Create a goal that seems totally unreasonable given everything you know.  Then challenge what you think you know and unlearn the beliefs that make the goal seem impossible.  After you’ve dissolved “the box,” create a new goal that would have been totally impossible at the start of the process.  If there are still any beliefs in the way of going after that goal, unlearn them.

What can you expect if you do as I suggest?  A life lived on the edge.  A life filled with excitement.  A life that truly makes a contribution. A life filled with achievements that most people would consider impossible.  A life that’s truly worth living.

 

Thanks for reading my blog. Please post your questions or comments about living an unreasonable life. Disagreement is as welcome as agreement. Your comments add value for thousands of readers. I love to read them all and I will respond to as many as I can.

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If you haven’t yet eliminated at least one of your limiting self-esteem beliefs using the Lefkoe Belief Process, go to our belief-unlearning program where you can eliminate several limiting beliefs free.

You also can find out about Natural Confidence, an interactive digital program that enables you to eliminate 19 of the most common beliefs, which cause some of the most common behavioral and emotional problems we face.

Copyright © 2014 Morty Lefkoe

14 Comments

  1. Hancel December 11, 2014 at 6:32 pm - Reply

    No wonder my sales goals felt like a drag… They were too reasonable and doable and wouldn’t feel like I was truly excelling in the way I know I can.

    I will discard those goals and re write them and make them crany unreasonable, thanks Mr. Lefkoe. Your blog is an inspiration and I have recommended you to some of my friends that I know will appreciate a site like this.

    Thank you for your work sir.

  2. Joanna Brandt September 17, 2014 at 6:25 am - Reply

    Wow Morty,
    I never saw it this way. Thanks so much for your valuable insight.

    I am currently pursuing my unreasonable goal of having my own coaching business, focused on helping people eliminate the core beliefs that hold them back. See more at http://www.myuniverseworks.com.

    May I quote some of this article in my next blog–and a link so they can read the rest?
    You are awesome!

    I love you,
    Joanna

    • Morty Lefkoe September 17, 2014 at 2:06 pm - Reply

      Hi Joanna,

      You can certainly quote this article if you give a link back to the full article here, but please stop putting your website in all your posts.

      Love,Morty

  3. Paulina September 5, 2014 at 6:59 pm - Reply

    Great post. I relaised I’m putting myself in the box, because my sense of ”what I am not fit for” is very strong. I like to dream big,but I didn’t yet challenge myself as if my dreams were completely possible. I didn’t yet see myself in that place, with the achievements I want. At last not constantly, sometimes I managed, and sometimes I doubted strongly. Well, thank you for the psot. I had trouble taking risks, but I realise they are risks only becuase of my way of seeing things. Thank you! ;)

  4. Janina September 3, 2014 at 11:52 am - Reply

    Hi Morty,
    Thank you. Your post reminded me how when I was in my early 20’s I dreamed big. I asked for what seemed impossible (to other people) — and I got it, experienced it, achieved it, in one form or another. In my late 20’s I got bogged down by beliefs around duty and family. I dreamed small and achieved small. You’ve reminded me how I used to be “unreasonable” with what I wanted from life, and how life obliged me with amazing experiences. Thank you for waking that part of me up.

  5. John September 3, 2014 at 6:41 am - Reply

    I get that things that prior seemed impossible (i.e. the 4 minute mile, or the cure to Polio) were achieved through break-through thinking and actions. However, what about cases that require the attraction of another human being? In my example, it has been a goal of mine since I have been a young adult to attract a beautiful, young woman into a love relationship. I am now 37 and have had very few experiences where an attractive, quality young woman was attracted to me.

    My primary limiting belief (which I believe to be true), is that attractive women in their 20s have no interest in any man over 35 (i.e. 37). Thus, at my age how will I ever get what I am looking for? I am just not interested in women close to my own age. If you look at any dating website, you see almost no women in their 20s who are interested in men over 35. So, for an external reality (i.e. other people), how do we change a limiting belief? Or, is it even possible?

    • Kate September 3, 2014 at 12:11 pm - Reply

      John,
      My husband and I are almost 17 years apart in age. I was 23 when I met him, 24 when we fell in love and 25 when I married him. I am now 43 and we are still happily married. I agree that ANYTHING is possible if you eliminate your limiting beliefs. Have faith and don’t try too hard. I know it sounds counter-intuitive..
      My goal right now is to work from home and make as much money as I was making at a Director level job in the corporate world. My limiting belief…*it’s not possible* but OF COURSE I know it is because I know people around me who do it!
      Wish me luck!
      Kate

      • John September 3, 2014 at 1:06 pm - Reply

        Kate,

        Great example. I am really glad to hear that because it helps me to see my own limiting beliefs. Thanks for your advice as well.
        Regarding your own belief around working from home, I can say that there really are no limitations in the working world. Last April, I was terminated from my job, and left with what I thought were few to no options. I was not able to find ANYTHING for almost 4 months. One day, out of the blue I got a job offer that was twice what I was making before, with no travel, walking distance to home, great people and environment, and flexible.
        My only advice to you would be to be flexible. There are many people who have pursued traditional corporate jobs and were able to negotiate working from home as one item on their list of things they wanted (i.e. pay, time off, start date). Everything is negotiable. In my outplacement firm, we even heard of one gentleman who wanted every Tuesday afternoon off to play a round of golf, and the company agreed. But, know what is important to you and why. You’d be surprised how flexible employers can be.

        Best of luck,
        John

    • Joshua September 9, 2014 at 2:50 am - Reply

      John, this may help. I am 41 and have visited my wife’s country Guyana about 5 times. On at least 3 occasions my (then 16 and then 18) year old stepdaughter (who is Guyanese) has been thought to be my wife. Over there it is not unusual for younger women to be with older men (there are cultural and economic reasons for this). It did not really seem to bother her although it bothered me! Read that again, she was 18, I ws in my late thirties. It was perfectly normal for them.

      Anyway, the point is that you may be looking at this from one cultural perspective only. There are younger women that look at older men as providers and lovers without a problem because that is their common experience. Hope this helps. One thing I would respectfully mention though: if you do end up with a woman 15 years your junior please talk with her about children. If you do not have any yet you should realize that it’s much harder work to have a child in your late thirties/forties (I have a four year old) and the experience may prove very tiring (as well as rewarding). Basically, if you agree to have two children, be a man of your word. She will be much younger than you and not understand the issue from your older perspective. God bless, Joshua

  6. Juanita September 3, 2014 at 4:33 am - Reply

    Hi Morty,
    I have a question regarding a good friend of mine who has been trying to get pregnant for a few years. She’s a bit passed the “normal” childbearing age, but another friend of ours, who is the same age, is 5 months pregnant! While it is not a goal, and is really up to God in the end, do you have any suggestions on how to approach this delicate situation, as it is her deepest heart’s desire? Her role and mine as her friend? Thank you!

    • Joanna Brandt September 17, 2014 at 6:31 am - Reply

      Hi Juanita,

      Wanting to get pregnant is certainly a goal. And while I agree she does not have total control, her beliefs go a long way toward whether or not she gets pregnant–even beliefs she is not aware of.

      I have already helped a client who is in the same situation. I cannot tell you the details as that would violate confidentiality.

      However, if your friend is ready to go for her dreams, please forward my address, http://www.myuniverseworks.com and click on the coaching page to request a complimentary Limitless Possibilities consultation.

      I love you,
      Joanna

      • Morty Lefkoe September 17, 2014 at 2:04 pm - Reply

        Hi Joanna,

        This space can certainly be used to give other people suggestions, but please do not use it to sell your services and give your email for that purpose.

        Thanks, love, Morty

  7. Dominique September 3, 2014 at 3:19 am - Reply

    Morty,
    I love this article.
    Right on the spot.
    Going beyond beliefs, building goals that are not limited by these -untrue- rules is the key to a happy, productive and fun life.
    I just got trained in your LMT1 (eliminate beliefs) and I cannot believe the space it creates in the way clients “feel” their own life : Some have completely changed their reactions to external situations and now think very differently of themselves and what they really want to accomplish. Thank you for sharing those insights.
    Dominique.

  8. Alejandro September 3, 2014 at 1:44 am - Reply

    Dude, you are the bee’s knees. Thank you for your awesome ideas.

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