Impossible Within the Current Paths

Apr 08, 2020 4:01 pm

[T]here may well be a natural tendency for someone to tell us that something is impossible, but, by and large, they don't really mean that. What they mean is that it is impossible within the current paths on which they and the organization are dependent. If we want to open up a greater sense of what is possible...we need to interrogate the paths until they confess their weaknesses.


→ Adam Morgan & Mark Barden, A Beautiful Constraint


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To get what we want, we first have to know what we want.


That sounds obvious, but it's not. We need an ironclad sense of what we are trying to accomplish, & it must go deeper than a hope that the business we've been building survives.


In times like these, it's more important than ever to orient what we want to accomplish around the needs, desires, ambitions of those we seek to serve.


Nobody voted for this disruption. Nobody raised their hands & asked for it. Nobody wants it. But the faster we move beyond our dislike of change & our frustrations around what might have been, the better. The sooner we start asking ourselves questions about the value we are still capable of delivering, the better. The quicker we dig deep into what our people truly need, the better.


If you run a gym, I hope you recognize that at the heart of what you offer has always been instigation. You've always instigated movement, connection, vulnerability, pride. You've always instigated an embrace of doing difficult things, a willingness to make personal health a priority, & the development of healthier habits.


That hasn't changed.


Your job today is to find new ways to instigate. Because your people still need it. They need conversation; they need to stay active; they need to be held accountable. You need to help them make the best of a shitty situation & remind them of the person they want to become.


Yes, sure, they need workouts to do.


But please don't settle there.


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Functional Branding exists to help change-makers make change. If I can ever be of service to you, just hit reply.

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