Wayne Gretzky’s 100% Guarantee

Pamela Chan, M.Ed/Editorial

After months of waiting for summer to arrive – and the rainy weather to end – it might take you back a bit to realize that 2024 is half over!  On this note, I read a post today on LinkedIn by Ben Meer that included 7 personal growth challenges  that would be perfect for a half year point challenge.  For some background, Ben studied Systems Thinking while he completed a MBA at Cornell University.  His 7 recommendations include:

  • 21 Day No Complaint Challenge
  • 30 Day Minimalism Game
  • 75 Days Hard Challenge
  • Tech Free Saturdays
  • 52 Week Saving Money Challenge
  • 3 Day Phone Charger Challenge
  • Morning Pages /Daily Journaling Challenge

Ben shared thoughtful ideas about these worthy challenges on his LinkedIn page. Do check them out.

Now that I’ve considered these seven options, I’d like to propose an 8th challenge which would tie in with the New Year’s Goal that you never started, or started and then abandoned.

30 Day Fifteen Minute Challenge

Did you know that former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote a book about hockey for 15 minutes every day, over the course of 8 years, while he was Prime Minister? Imagine how busy his days must have been between his professional obligations and personal time he wished to spend with his family. Yet he still committed to his goal for 15 minutes every day.

I prefer to have plenty of time to do a deep focussed dive into any project that I want to start. Recently, I finished a major project which had me spending hours every day on the work at hand, for days on end.  However, sometimes feelings of overwhelm and imposter syndrome can get in the way when I want to take on a major personal goal.

So I never start.

You’ll often read that taking 5 minutes (and longer if you wish) is a recommended way to get started towards reaching a goal. Would you consider following Stephen’s plan and committing not 5 but 15 minutes every day, over the course of a month? At the end of the month, assess your results and see if you want to continue to move forward, change paths or abandon the project.  The beauty of this plan is that you could start on any day in the month.

Did you know that there are some preparatory stages that you can undertake to help you to launch your project successfully?   The WOOP process includes identifying your wish and your hoped for outcome, thinking about any obstacles that might be in the way and then devising a plan to deal with these obstacles.

As my grad school advisor used to say, while I moved through 7 revisions of the written phase of my research project, “go!”.

Or not.

It’s up to you.

But remember. As Wayne Gretzky first said to the editor of Hockey News in 1983, “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.”

Are you ready to take your first shot?

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