Focus for Sustainable Success
Focus Your Energy for Sustainability
by Calvin Harris H.W., M.
Well the holiday season is over and the New Year’s resolutions have been written. But before you put those plans into action I would like for you to consider the following information and then maybe review what you wrote, you may find from this story some useful tips for your strategy to accomplished your resolutions.
I was reminded in an article by James Clear, a well know author, and fellow life coach, that in 1996, Southwest Airlines was faced with a weighty decision.
It was in the 1980’s that Southwest Airlines had strategically transformed itself from being a small regional carrier to one with a more national presence. Note that this was a time that many airline companies were losing money or going belly-up. Southwest as a result, was in demand, so much so that more than 100 cities were calling for Southwest to expand service to their location.
Southwest had a decision to make. It answer was to turned down over 95% of the offers and streamlined service to just 4 new locations in 1996. A significant number of offers were left on the table.
Their reasoning for turning down so much business is explained in Jim Collins book Great by Choice, he claims that a secrets to Southwest's success was its willingness, of company executives, to set what is called an upper bound limit for growth.
What Is Upper Bound Limits ?
Understanding ups and downs in a business is important, thus looking at Southwest beginning in the 1970’s, and for nearly 30 years thereafter, Southwest was the only airline company that made consecutive profits each year.
Southwest grew It’s business incrementally each year, for the executives of the company choose a pace of growth that they could sustain, while maintaining the airlines culture and profitability. This is called a upper bound limit for growth.
This is an approach that has been applied to many goals, both business and otherwise. It tends to be used by most people but it is inverted, or starting from the opposite direction, or what can be called starting from a lower bound limited. Example of how we hear it used or experienced is :
An individual might say, “I want to lose at least 10 pounds this month.”
A Businessperson might say, “I want to get at least 5 projects done and off my desk each day.”
A writer might say, “I want to write at least 500 word each day.”
The get-in-shape guy or gal, might say, “I want to be at the gym at least 3 times a week.”
The focus is only on the lower bound limits: the minimum threshold. Yet that implied assumption is, “If you can do more than the minimum, go for it.” So what happens? We are going for it, all out, usually in a unsustainable manner that does not allow us to maintain our pace over time at the current rate or nor increase our levels over time.
Now, the obverse, which is turning that over, were we work from the upper bound limits of our goals and behaviors would look more like this:
“I want to lose at least 10 pounds this month, but not more than 15.”
“I want to have at least 5 projects done today, but not more than 10.”
“I want to write at least 500 words today, but not more than 1,000.”
“I want to be at the gym least 3 times a week, but not more than 5.”
What you are creating using the upper bound limits in your life planing, is what can seem like a magical zone of long-term growth: Where you are pushing enough to make progress, but not so much that it is unsustainable.
A Safety Margin for Growth
We can all agree, the lower limit is important, yet the upper limit can be critical. The diagram provided by James Clear shows finding that zone that allow for growth in a mid-range that is just slow enough to be methodically sustain without burnout or injury to progress. Being too aggressive in pursuit of growth could have you quickly hitting a plateau, damage or burnout.
Strategically adding a Margin for Growth to your resolutions will avoid going too fast and helping you stay on track to success within that margin of growth.
This is all about the power to succeed. Your setting an upper limit allows you an easier way to sustain your progress. And the power to consciously observe your behavior and habits to move progress forward and to attain success of your real goals.
The Take- Away
When you are ready, look again at your resolutions, check it to see if you have set bounds? Is there just a lower bound limit? This year for a better chance of success, lets simply add - Upper bound limits - as a focus drive to your plan of action and then slowly increase your output.
Say you want to be the gym person and start working out. Most people would focus on the lower bound limit and say, “I have to start exercising for at least 30 minutes a day and go on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
Instead, you could start with your upper bound limit and say, “I am not allowed to exercise for more than 5 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
This may seem like an over the top example but by setting an incredibly easy upper limit, you are creating a habit, a process of getting up and going to the gym. by building that sustaining behavior of consistently going to the gym then makes the next component easier to achieve. Now once you’ve establish the routine over and over again, you can raise the time limit as much as needed for success.
You are achieving small progress every day, fly efforts, rather than doing as much as humanly possible in one day and then quitting. Our focus is sustainability, Consciously creating habits for success by doing things you can sustain.