My mum and I are trying to attend a writers workshop together sometime this summer. Because there are so many writers applying to these workshops, you have to compete to attend (“juried in.”) I spent all Friday writing fiction to meet a submission deadline and my mum sent me a message Saturday that she had done the same. She said that she didn’t know if we’d get in, but just the process of editing and revising her writing sample had engendered growth. Even though it was tiring, stressful, and a hassle.
What we work on in business often comes with challenges. Good goals are challenging, people are challenging, shifts in the market are challenging.
However, there’s a higher form of challenges. These call forth our best in the form of new capability.
To give an example, last January I was heading out on vacation just as everyone was leaping into the work of the new year. I set a challenge of getting six weeks of objectives completed in the four days before I left and without grinding day and night.
It took me the four days and a few hours extra. I wasn’t perfectly successful, but I got it done. In the process, I became more adept at delegating and choosing strategic routes.
In Greek mythology, Heracles had to complete twelve “labours.” The labours were extreme challenges: killing monsters, obtaining impossible treasure, and cleaning several Kentucky Derby’s worth of horse stables in a single day. The labours were penance for his sins, but the successful completion also came with the reward of immortality.
The stories are a clue into the nature and results of heroic feats.
In considering a labour that would lead to business growth for you:
- What are the governors in your business that limit growth now?
- What missing capability do they represent?
- What goal and parameters would be heroic?
Featured image is Roman relief (3rd century AD) from a sarcophagus depicting a sequence of the Labours. Used under public domain.