Yesterday morning I went to the gym with a friend of mine, named Jared. The dude is jacked, knows his stuff when it comes to fitness, and offered to help put some workout and nutritional plans together for me so I could fulfill my dream of looking like an action figure.
We did more reps of various exercises yesterday morning than I’ve probably done cumulatively over the last three weeks — something close to 600. I was wrecked.
If you would’ve shown me that workout plan before we got into the gym, I would’ve thought you were crazy. There’s no way I can do all of that.
But I did, and it was because the ability was there — I was missing was the proper mindset. And I can’t understate the value of having Jared right there pushing me, either.
Not only does this inform the workout plan Jared is putting together for me, but it totally recalibrated my own personal expectation of my ability.
I’m doing the same thing with my work right now. With the latest Unreal Collective cohort starting just a couple of weeks ago, I’ve challenged them to calibrate their personal capacity through our weekly action items.
Last week, I accomplished all the items on my list, so this week, I declared nearly twice as many tasks to my weekly action items. At the start of the week, it looked overly ambitious, but by having them all on paper, I just may get them all completed.
This is a process of calibration. It really comes down to your mindset — what do you truly believe you are capable of?
The best way to increase your own personal expectations is to set goals, deadlines, and achieve that outcome — over and over again. Once you begin to trust yourself and your instincts for what you’re capable of, you can really achieve some ambitious results.