Dream, Believe, Create, Succeed goes the adage.
But sometimes, it doesn’t turn out that way. Sometimes you’ve been going for a while and no one believes anymore.
Even you’re having some doubts.
What went wrong?
What we think is possible, what we end up doing, is often shaped by what we believe is possible, what we believe we are able to do.
If we don’t believe, then no matter what the circumstance, no matter what available resources, no matter what the people we have available to help, it won’t be done because we believe it can’t be done.
Our past is made up of our concrete experiences, things that have been taught to us and stuff that we have gleaned from observing others.
Our past shapes what we think is possible but we forget that our past is open to interpretation. In fact, our interpretation may or may not reflect what truly happened.
Yet, without reflection, we believe that this past is the truth.
We plan for the future to achieve a result. Our past tells us that the future is uncertain and the outcomes of our planned actions result in a spread of outcomes. Even so, it may be a gulf between what we hope to achieve and what we believe is possible.
Sometimes what we need to do is to pause, reflect upon our past in order to see how it has shaped and limited our truth.
For example, I was once involved in the purchase of a power generation station. The annual retail value of the electricity was estimated at $90 million. Based on a target rate of return alone, yes it was worth $45 million
In fact, the station eventually sold for $89 million. Why? The other buyer needed a natural hedge because of the large amount of forward fixed price contracts it already held. If the spot market went against them, they stood to lose their shirts.
For them, paying $89 million was worth the financial security that it brought them.
Two different parties, with two different pasts, resulting in two quite different pricing decisions over the same asset.
How is your past limiting your views of what is possible in the future?
