Achieve the Impossible: Key Factors for Success

As I reflect on 2024, it has been a busy and challenging year. Over the end of year break, I took some time to read a book titled “Art of the Impossible”. Steven Kotler wrote it. It provides rich and practical advice that resonates with me. Particularly that there are things that seem impossible, problems around us at work in the World that seem impossible. How do we approach them and find a solution to the seemingly impossible problems around us?

In the book, Kotler outlines five key factors for achieving what seems unattainable. I believe it’s worth exploring these factors.

1. Motivation
2. Learning
3. Creativity
4. Mastery
5. Flow

1. Motivation: The Drive to Achieve the Impossible

To achieve the impossible, you must first believe it’s possible. This belief fuels the grit and determination required for success. Before you start this quest, make sure you have the right resources. Every journey needs fuel; you need energy, rest, and mental resilience.

Kotler breaks motivation down into two types:

• Extrinsic Motivation: External rewards like money, fame, or recognition. These provide temporary drive but often fade once the goal is achieved.
• Intrinsic Motivation: Internal drivers like curiosity, passion, purpose, and the desire for mastery. These tend to be more enduring and are key to tackling long-term challenges.

Questions to Explore Your Motivators:

• What are you curious about?
• What questions do you want to answer?
• What drives you to keep exploring and learning?
• How can you turn your curiosity and passion into a purpose?

When you align your passions with your purpose, you’ll have the energy and focus to solve even the toughest problems.

2. Learning: Growth and curiosity

To conquer the impossible, one often needs a growth mindset. This means believing that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. This mindset is rooted in curiosity. When you’re genuinely curious about a subject, you’re more motivated to learn and absorb new information.

Key Ideas on Learning:

• Growth Mindset: View challenges as opportunities to grow.
• Passion-Driven Learning: Focus on what excites you. Passion fuels persistence.
• Goal Setting: Break big problems into smaller, manageable tasks to make progress.

Set clear goals and create smaller milestones to help you stay focused. Research shows that when people are given specific targets, they accomplish more.

Types of Resources to Use:

• Books: Condense decades of an authors knowledge into concise chapters of a book.
• Blogs: Offer bite-sized insights and learnings from weeks or months of research.
• Social Media: Can be useful, but often superficial so use it wisely to avoid distractions.

Once you know what motivates you, it’s time to dive in. Break down challenges into manageable parts. Push through the inevitable obstacles. Here you need the grit and determination to overcome the daily challenges that will come.

3. Creativity: The Key to innovation

Creativity is not just about thinking outside the box. It’s about continuous learning and experimenting. It also involves refining your approach until you find a solution that works. A growth mindset turns each challenge into an opportunity for innovation.

How to Cultivate Creativity:

• Enable Your Brain Networks: Creativity requires focus and imagination. Pay attention to new ideas and possibilities.
• Positive Mood: Studies show that being in a good mood boosts creativity. Cultivate habits that make you feel good—exercise, sleep, and time spent in nature all help.
• Solitude: Taking time to be alone with your thoughts can help spark creativity and new insights.

4. Mastery: Becoming an expert

As you work on solving a complex problem, you develop a deep understanding and intuition for the subject. This skill helps you sift through information and focus on what truly matters.

The Five-Step Learning Process for Mastery:

1. Read books and take notes.
2. Seek out experts in your field.
3. Explore contradictory viewpoints.
4. Pick a side and defend your perspective.
5. Create a narrative that ties everything together (cause and effect).

Mastery allows you to discern valuable information quickly and use it effectively. Over time you will develop an innate sense of truth and which sources to trust.

5. Flow: The State of Peak Performance

Flow is the ultimate mental state for achieving the impossible. It’s when you’re fully immersed in a task, with total focus and energy. When you’re in flow, you’re more productive, creative, and able to solve complex problems.

Steps to Achieving Flow:

Recovery: Ensure you get enough rest, eat well, and practice self-care.

Struggle: The process of learning and overcoming challenges.

Release: Take breaks to relax and let the brain process new information.

Flow: Focus on your project for extended periods of time without distractions.

Conclusion: Unlocking Your Potential

Everyone has the potential to achieve the impossible. The key is to discover what inspires you. Work on what you’re passionate about. Allow yourself the time and space to be creative. Get into the flow state and tackle challenges head-on.

Top Tip: Follow the 80/20 rule. Identify the 20% of tasks that will give you 80% of the results. Focus on these tasks.