possibilities – Alissa Finerman

Alissa’s blog was featured on the Wharton Magazine Blog.

Possible and impossible are two different ways to think. Some people see everything as possible. Others train themselves to see only the impossible. It’s a simple choice. Entrepreneurs have crazy ideas that help them open the world of what is possible. There will be various bumps, also known as challenges, on the path that will test just how committed you are to your idea.

Here are a few examples of crazy ideas:

Facebook: Why do we need a way to communicate and connect on a global basis? Today, more than a billion people use Facebook. Now it’s hard to imagine a day without social media.

Electric Cars: Producing an electric car seemed like a crazy idea years ago. Today, I see a Tesla electric car at least several times a day in my hometown of Santa Monica, CA. Sales of these vehicles will reach 3.8 million by 2020, Forbes claims.

Polio Vaccine: Finding a vaccine for polio seemed like an impossible idea. The health community at the time estimated that treating polio would cost as much as $100 billion. Researchers believed differently and in 1954 won a Nobel Prize for their efforts. Today, there are only 200 cases left, and the cost to contain it was closer to $100 million.

Early Detection Test for Cancer: Jack Andraka, a 15-year-old high school student, invented an inexpensive and sensitive dipstick-like sensor for the rapid and early detection of pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers. He won the 2012 Gordon E. Moore top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. It took him 4,000 tries and 200 letters to professors to get access to a lab. He received 199 rejections and one maybe.

From Homeless to Valedictorian: Chelesa Fearce spent much of her childhood moving around homeless shelters and sleeping in the car, but that didn’t stop her from graduating high school as the valedictorian of her class. She persevered and will be studying pre-med at Spelman College.

Crazy ideas range from small to huge, and what seems small to one person is substantial to another. Your crazy idea may be to open a second office, hire another employee, donate a portion of your profits to charity, launch your product globally, start a family or buy another business. There is no need to compare what you can accomplish to your peers’ accomplishments.

You know you have a crazy idea when the idea seems crazy to others but exciting to you. People will doubt you because they don’t share your vision. Any idea that is removed from the status quo will always seem like a crazy idea to others. Don’t let a lukewarm response dissuade you from going after your dream.

I’ll share a few crazy ideas of my own:

• Leaving a successful finance career to start over and build a coaching business.

• Moving from New York City to Santa Monica at the age of 39.

• Publishing my first book without any specific writing experience.

All of these seemed like crazy or impossible ideas to others. It only takes one person to see the possible in an idea and that’s you. What are some of your recent crazy ideas? Please share them below in the comments section.

About Alissa

Alissa is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She works with teams, managers and leaders to help them think bigger, redefine what’s possible and get results. She has appeared has worked with the Milken Institute, Prostate Cancer Foundation, LA Business Journal, NBC Universal and Dress for Success. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a bachelor’s of arts from the University of California, Berkeley. She wrote the book Living in Your Top 1%: Nine Essential Rituals to Achieve Your Ultimate Life Goals. Please connect with Alissa at www.AlissaFinerman.com and www.facebook.com/alissafinermantop1.

There are lots of ways we can discover our potential and see what’s possible in our life. One very powerful way is through the process of goal-setting. You may ask —Why set goals? There are lots of reasons. One convincing one is that goals add meaning to our lives. We do this not just by accomplishing any goal but by working toward something that we value and is meaningful.

Goals help us see new possibilities.

A lot of people set goals that I label as should goals. These are goals that other people, family or society think you should do. Often these should goals do not resonate with you on a deeper level and leave you feeling unfulfilled even when you achieve them. The goal will sound perfectly fine on the surface such as work for a well known corporation, start your own business, get promoted to VP, manage a team, get in shape and lose ten pounds, volunteer or start a family. Setting a goal that does not interest or inspire you will only frustrate you. Stay away from these goals as they will rarely bring greater meaning to your life.

To clarify, the issue is not the specific goal.

The issue is whether your goal is a should or value goal for you.

Value based goals are aligned with a core value that is important to YOU such as adventure, respect, learning or connection. So if healthy living is not a core value then getting in shape will never be fun, even though health is a top priority value for others. Similarly, if independence is a core value then working your way up the corporate ladder and working for someone else may not be as fulfilling as starting your own business. And even more shocking, if family is not your top value then starting a family may take a back seat to building your business. Once you fine-tune your goals to align with your values, you will feel a renewed sense of motivation and purpose.

Full disclosure, accomplishing a goal that is aligned with your values is still not a walk through the park. You will always have speed bumps that come up on your path. It’s actually your ability to move outside your comfort zone through short term challenges that helps you build confidence and believe in yourself. This leads to a positive upward spiral which motivates you to explore what else is possible. Setting a goal that matters to YOU can be life changing and open your world to true success.

You know you have a meaningful goal when it speaks to your heart.

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Brookfield Property Partners, Neutrogena and Bristol-Myers Squibb. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

In Defense Of The Impossible

Should vs Value Goals

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