How do you engineer a breakthrough? It is not luck. There is a process to it – one that any one of us can follow.
To achieve a breakthrough is to surpass one’s old boundaries. It is to break down a wall no one thought could be toppled. It is to push past your limits and arrive on a new stage for the first time.
The problem is, walls are often hard to see. Apart from athletes, most people do not routinely consider their own limits.
How can you clearly see your own limits and walls? The answer is revealed in one of my favorite stories: the launch of Apollo 11.
In May of 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that by the end of that decade, the United States would send a man to the moon. The world of space exploration was a competitive one at that time. The former Soviet Union had launched the first satellite, Sputnik, and even the first manned spacecraft.
Kennedy’s announcement was part of a plan to wipe out the “Sputnik Shock” that gripped the nation. By setting a specific timeframe – not “someday” but “before this decade is over” was brilliant. It allowed the US space program to see the walls, understand the current limits, and commit to pushing past them into the breakthrough.
If Kennedy had said “someday” instead of “this decade” I do not believe the breakthrough would have been achieved.
The landing of Apollo 11 greatly influenced me. It clarified my thinking to see that success is never aimless. If you carry out routine work aimlessly day after day, you will never succeed. Set a goal, use every effort to move towards it, dream big. Goals alone are what lead people and companies to amazing breakthroughs.
This was posted by Hiroshi Mikitani. I sign under every letter of it.To achieve a breakthrough is to surpass one’s old boundaries. It is to break down a wall no one thought could be toppled. It is to push past your limits and arrive on a new stage for the first time.
The problem is, walls are often hard to see. Apart from athletes, most people do not routinely consider their own limits.
How can you clearly see your own limits and walls? The answer is revealed in one of my favorite stories: the launch of Apollo 11.
In May of 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that by the end of that decade, the United States would send a man to the moon. The world of space exploration was a competitive one at that time. The former Soviet Union had launched the first satellite, Sputnik, and even the first manned spacecraft.
Kennedy’s announcement was part of a plan to wipe out the “Sputnik Shock” that gripped the nation. By setting a specific timeframe – not “someday” but “before this decade is over” was brilliant. It allowed the US space program to see the walls, understand the current limits, and commit to pushing past them into the breakthrough.
If Kennedy had said “someday” instead of “this decade” I do not believe the breakthrough would have been achieved.
The landing of Apollo 11 greatly influenced me. It clarified my thinking to see that success is never aimless. If you carry out routine work aimlessly day after day, you will never succeed. Set a goal, use every effort to move towards it, dream big. Goals alone are what lead people and companies to amazing breakthroughs.
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