Beyond Thought
By Les Mottosky
There's a sense of fun when we're creating a career we love. No matter the scale of our mission, delivering results toward a worthy end lights-up the connection between heart and mind.
Simply being on the path to making a difference delivers a sense of fulfillment that few pursuits can.
Perhaps it fills part of the god-shaped hole that's supposedly within all of us.
It might be even simpler than that. More evolutionary than spiritual.
Building something the world needs, contributing to the benefit of others, tickles those strands of DNA that remind us 'If we aren't givin', we aren't livin'."
Going all-in on something bigger than ourselves might feel like the ultimate human accountability. But it doesn't need to. At all.
With the right set of goggles pointed towards our work, the weight of accountability can become almost imperceptible.
There are four states that get us up and at 'em when something has to get done: desire, motivation, discipline and obsession. (We could throw fear in there too, but we're taking a more nuanced perspective.)
Desire to 'do the thing' can fade with repetition and the subsequent monotony that accompanies it. So when desire dips, something can arise to motivate us and re-spark the engine to get us going again. But after awhile that will fail us, too.
Motivation is like eating a chocolate bar when the body needs a balanced meal.
And that's when discipline becomes the move. Building a bullet-proof habit of 'doing what needs to get done when it needs to be done' removes the need for both desire and motivation. If motivation is a chocolate bar, discipline is like eating liver – without any spices to hide the medicinal flavour.
Discipline is that concrete wall we can lean on and know – with complete confidence – it will support us.
But there's another lever that gets things done. And it happens with as little complication or mental friction as possible: obsession.
When we're obsessed with seeing something through to the end, there are no emotional tricks of impulse or inspiration necessary. It becomes not just a pursuit, but a need. Death is the only thing that can stop us.
The barrier of accountability becomes less like a set of hurdles we exert effort to clear, and instead feels like the necessary fuel for the journey we're on.
The movie 127 Hours, based on the true story of Aron Ralston, demonstrates the power of obsession. While exploring Bluejohn Canyon in eastern Utah, Aron gets his arm trapped in a rock formation. He's left in the gruesome dilemma of perishing – lost and alone – or freeing the rest of his body from the jammed arm.
Ralston escaped only after he stopped trying to save his arm and instead became obsessed with saving his own life.
The paradox is profound: when survival became his only objective, sacrificing his arm ceased to be unthinkable and became the only path forward.
And that's the nature of obsession. It narrows our thinking until the goal itself becomes – not just the main thing – but the singular thing.
This example is an extreme one, but that's the point. Obsession is extreme.
Ironically, this unimaginable conundrum carries an insight that might function as temporary motivation. If your obsession includes creating something you believe will change the world, no matter how overwhelming the challenge to make it happen, you're likely going to get it done with all your limbs intact. So there's that.
When we're obsessed with an outcome, that vision transforms liability into light work. More than that, with the right mindset it makes the journey fun.
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Les Mottosky
Adaptation Strategist // I help organizations turn creativity into their competitive advantage by aligning leadership, culture and strategy to unlock adaptive innovations.
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