Stick Your Neck Out to Do an "Impossible Task," and You'll Do What It Takes to Succeed - By: Donald Mitchell

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence,
and then success is sure.

--Mark Twain

When I started the 400 Year Project (a program to identify ways that the rate of improvement could be accelerated by 20 times), I decided to announce the project before a gathering of my most important clients and the business leaders I most admired. At the time, I was hoping to learn from their reactions. But the most important benefit was from making a public commitment in front of them. I wouldn't have much credibility left unless I succeeded!

Perhaps the most important effect of that autumnal meeting was to make me feel like I owned the responsibility to make this project work. After all, none of my clients or colleagues had asked me to take this on. Most of them were concerned about the impact on me and my business of attempting such an enormous task; their willingness to support this blind task was, however, very encouraging to me. By the end of the day, my confidence was at an all-time high. In fact, my confidence was higher then than it is now, even though I now know how to create 400 years of progress in a generation.

Perhaps that's an essential element of leading a project like this to a successful conclusion: You need to feel overwhelming confidence. I thank God for giving that confidence to me.

The ignorance came naturally: I had never thought about accelerating the rate of improvements before. How hard could it be?

Having now worked on this great task for 13 years, it's clear to me that difficult challenges require continual focus. When that happens, you begin to see the whole world in terms of the challenge. What you see begins to provide the answers you seek. But if you only did that investigation for two weeks, you would simply retire with few answers. Such a limited effort would be a waste of time for a hard task.

From this experience, I've come to appreciate that people can do vastly more than they think they can. Without making large public commitments that require sticking your neck out, no one would ever persist long enough and energetically enough to accomplish an "impossible" task.

Naturally, if you are going to take such a radical step, it makes sense to pick an "impossible" task that excites you. By making such a commitment, you'll feel more energized to stick with the long slog ahead.

Good luck!

About the Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at http://www.fastforward400.com .

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