We live in a world of circumstances we either accept and are swept along by like a leaf in a stream or we look at our circumstances don’t like what we see and set about changing them. In everyday practice, we accept some circumstances and reject others. Those we reject we either ignore, change or are resigned that change is beyond us and accept we are stuck with them like it or not.
It is commonplace to assume we are limited by our circumstances and then see ourselves as a victim or beneficiary of our lot in life. Even worse, the actions we take fall within what we are comfortable doing and we are skeptical that we can change our circumstances or ourselves without major effort and discipline if at all. In short, it’s normal to assume we are limited in what we can do, we avoid risk, act only in our comfort zone and we are skeptical of those who say it doesn’t have to be that way.
When we see stunning success stories like Bill Gates, Mary Kay, Famous Amos, Sam Walton and many others, it’s easy to dismiss what we see as examples of good luck, knowing the right people or having some other advantage we don’t have. In truth, we have no idea what hardships, failures and feelings of wanting to quit outstandingly successful people had to deal with.
Having scientists tell us that limitation is an illusion and that we live in a world of unlimited possibility doesn’t fit our experience. The idea that we can break free from our circumstances and have what those watching us would call breakthrough after breakthrough seems somewhere between unlikely and impossible. If we accept that we can have breakthroughs, it still is foreign to the way we think and act. So we can expect to feel uncomfortable or even afraid of taking any action that we expect will change the way we think or the way we act. There is a serious question if it is even possible to make lasting changes in the face of doubts and fears about what will happen to us if we try.
Suppose we now turn the coin over and see what’s on the other side. Where we used to see limitation, the tendency to act in our comfort zone and skepticism about our ability to make things better, we can now see unlimited possibility, new adventures and building momentum toward fulfilling our intentions. Instead of being the victim or beneficiary of our circumstances, we can now be an architect of our circumstances. Instead of our actions being only those we are comfortable with, we can step beyond the familiar and enjoy the thrill of adventure. Instead of withholding our energy and abilities to avoid disappointment and criticism, we can focus on what we want and work on building momentum. The immediate question to ask ourselves is “which side of the coin would we tell someone else is the key to breakthroughs?”
Action that consistently produces breakthrough results is breakthrough action. There are abilities we all have that enable breakthrough action but they are rarely fully developed and so seem out of reach to most of us. Also, there is a level of awareness and understanding of accomplishment that empowers consistently producing results many would never attempt.
In the end, no matter what may be possible, every individual and organization makes their own choice to be swept along by circumstances, competing the best they can, or to be the architect of their circumstances, creating what they want. Architects know the Newtonian predictability that has guided action for centuries is being replaced by quantum unpredictability that reveals all things are posstble.
