“I can’t do it. It's impossible!” my friend Karlin heard his 10 year old daughter Sidney say. They were at her swim meet and, to qualify for the next round, she would have to swim over 12 seconds faster than her best time ever.How many times in business have we heard statements that reflect that same defeatist attitude?

“That will never happen.”

“I’m too old to change.”

“It’s too difficult.”

“We're too small.”

“We've always done it this way.”

 Karlin’s response to his daughter was, “It may very well be impossible, but if it were possible, what would you have to do to improve your time?”

As she thought about it, she said “Well I could double kick during this portion of the swim and then I could get a stronger kick of the wall. Oh and I could hold my breath longer during this section.”

Many times we limit our potential because we don’t consider the steps that could actually get us to the desired end result. Like so many things in our society, we want it NOW or we simply settle for less if the goal is not quickly and easily obtained.

Sidney didn't qualify for the next round that day, but by simply beginning to break down” the impossible” she improved her best time by 5 seconds! (For those of you that might not know about swimming – 5 seconds is HUGE!) With more practice and thinking through the process, I'm confident she will accomplish the once thought impossible.

What goal or dream in your business do you see as impossible today? If it were possible, what would you have to do to make it happen?

* Karlin Yaeger is the Global Sales Manager at Addison Biological Laboratory, Inc. in Fayette, Missouri.  Fulling Management & Accounting, Inc. has worked Addison Biological Laboratory, Inc. for over 13 years.