Happy Friday!

Somehow, we went from winter to waking up one morning to Spring and all of the allergies that come with it. I almost never get allergies, and I don't know how anyone lives with them.

If that weren't bad enough, I also agreed to take some training to help my eldest son's Cub Scout pack. This involved an overnight camping trip with training. I was in my tent after our training ended at 10:30 PM and I couldn't sleep as my allergies left me unable to breathe, tearing up, and coughing.

Had I known I'd have allergies I would've either prepared with medicine or just considered this trip unthinkable.

See what I did there? Brought the title in.

Now, here's the thing about doing something unthinkable—its probably worth it.

I think about all the times in my career that I intentionally did the unthinkable things or tried something that should never work or ran towards a perceived disaster. Every time, it was hard, but it was worth it.

Even more specifically, every time this happened, I learned a new and better way to handle something that was limiting me before.

I was talking to a friend of mine who, years ago, taught me how to be a developer and then helped him get a job. He's now an engineering manager and was telling me how hard it is. I asked how many reports he had and what his days were like.

I remember the first time I was set up to coach a team, and I'd get headaches from thinking so hard about everything that was going on. Now, far more recently, I've coached over 11 teams simultaneously and published a book at the same time.

In my opinion, one of the tricks to rapid growth is doing the unthinkable.

I work with so many leaders who feel stuck, powerless, or so overscheduled they can't think. Yet, almost any suggestion to provide relief is met with, "No, because..."

So many developers spend years honing skills that lead to frustrating results, and yet they've heard about alternatives that they would refuse, saying, "No, because..."

I say do the unthinkable and do the thing that might provide relief, even if it isn't obvious to you.

I can come up with countless examples in my own life where things were impossible until the moment I did something that seemed unthinkable to me or my peers. I'd wind up learning some new alternatives to how I did things that prompted rapid growth.

So when you find some aspect of your career where you feel like you're at the limits of what's possible, do the unthinkable, and I bet you'll break those limits entirely.

Sincerely,

Ryan

PS: During the eclipse, I went to see what my honeybees do. There's a video here if you're interested.