Throughout the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Michael Hyatt was leading Thomas Nelson Publishers. in spite of not only addressing a crashing economy but also a severely disrupted book industry, he was “intuitively experiencing the fear,” mentioned in his book Entrepreneurs Will Save the World. “In the midst, I met with Ilene, my executive coach. She posed a question that altered everything for me: What opportunities does this crisis present?”
Hyatt recommends finding answers by delving into a series of queries, including:
- How can you uniquely assist customers?
- How can your products or services tackle the problems customers currently face?
- What collaborations or partnerships would benefit you in serving your clients?
Responding to these questions will inevitably lead solopreneurs to establishing new and ambitious goals. They will for me, at least. I’m prepared to take a big swing, at what, I’m not certain, and whether I’ll achieve it, I don’t know. But I am much more focused on swinging now and much less on hitting, thanks to the lessons learned during a hilariously terrible kayaking journey on the Mississippi River in October.
There stood the island in front of me. My friend John had taken his kayak to the east side and disappeared into the distance. I allowed myself to drift to the west side, keeping close to the bank. I lacked the energy, or the desire, to paddle myself around to his side of the island, so I just went with the flow. On the third and final day of this kayak trip, I was utterly defeated.
I ceased paddling. The river swirled beneath me, spinning my kayak this way and that. I was, in a single word, furious. I was furious at the river, angry at whoever invented kayaks, annoyed at Mark Twain, upset with myself for putting myself in a situation where I had to give up.
“Never give up” is terrible business advice, but I still despise giving up. I felt like I disappointed my friend and made a fool of myself for thinking I could kayak on the Mississippi River.
One of the reasons I undertake journeys like this is that enduring hardships in them readies me to face hardships in the rest of my life. I’ve discovered that if I can continue on a bike ride or a hike even when I want to quit, I can employ that same persistence in my work. During hikes, I tell myself, one more step. During bike rides, it’s one more mile. In work, I translate that to one more phone call, one more draft, one more pitch, whatever.
However, this was different. The Mississippi River presented a hardship I couldn’t withstand. The current was too strong, the barges were too large, the wind was too intense. For three days, I couldn’t paddle straight. Eventually, I gave up trying. One more paddle stroke? Forget that.
In the days following the trip, I bemoaned to my friends about how frustrated I was by my inability to keep a kayak going in the right direction for more than a few minutes. I expressed my disappointment that we had to cut our destination goals short because I couldn’t reach them. I described it as a failed trip.
My friends, being good friends, informed me that I was mistaken. (Pro tip: Find friends like that.)
Once my anger had subsided and with my friends’ candid advice, I realized that I still had a great time on the trip. John and I camped for two nights on the banks of the Mississippi River, chatting and laughing late into the night. I still wrote the stories from the trip that I intended, including this one, even if they weren’t what I initially imagined.
This story was meant to be about acquiring new skills. The only hiccup: I gained none. Pro tip: Avoid attempting to learn how to kayak on the Mississippi River.
Now I understand that I took a significant swing at the Mississippi River, and even though I didn’t hit it the way I wanted to, that’s not the point. That led me to contemplate my career. When have I set big goals, equivalent to kayaking the Mississippi River, for my business as a whole?
The answer is almost never.
I aspire to change that.
I’m entirely at ease pitching challenging stories or embarking on adventures that push me beyond my comfort zone. However, these always include safety nets. For instance, when I sold a story a few years back about attempting to achieve my first hole in one over the summer, there was no way to fail. All I had to do was try because I would write the story whether I succeeded or not. I would likely not have accepted the assignment if my pay depended on achieving the hole in one.
I seldom take comparable risks in my business as a whole because there are no safety nets. I prefer to know beforehand that I will reach a goal before setting it. This has made me cautious.
The more I dwell on that October kayak trip, the more I begin to wonder… what opportunities have I passed up on because I have been unwilling to risk failure? Jim Rohn wrote, “Life is too short not to pursue your dreams.” At the end of your life, you can only look back. You can reflect with joy or regret.
As the New Year nears, I’m considering how I can apply this lesson in 2021. I hope you are too. I’ve started a list of dream projects, essentially putting down thoughts that have been floating around in my mind for years that I’ve not had the courage to start working on.
The advantages of aiming for big goals transcend the boost provided by actually achieving the goal. Caroline Adams Miller and Dr. Michael B. Frisch write in Creating Your Best Life, recently re-released, “Findings from 30 years of research on life satisfaction show that happiness requires having clear-cut goals in life that give us a sense of purpose and direction.”
“When we make progress toward satisfying our most cherished needs, goals, and wishes in the 16 areas of life that contribute to contentment, we create well-being. Our research also shows that when we make progress toward attaining goals in one area of life, we raise our overall life satisfaction in other areas because of the potent ‘spillover’ effect.”
The keywords to me are “make progress,” and I’ve been missing out on that spillover effect that results. Pursuing lofty goals will enable me to, figuratively, camp on the banks of the Mississippi River and converse and chuckle late into the night. I’ll need to remind myself of that concept repeatedly as I have identified a couple of significant goals that I’m trying to motivate myself to pursue, even if I fail.
I’m not quite ready to reveal those yet. But they won’t involve kayaks or the Mississippi River.
