How to achieve more than you are able

Standardized testing while I was in primary school reported to my teacher and my parents that I measured higher in “Achievement” than in “Ability.” I don’t know how they reached that conclusion, because by third grade, I really hadn’t done anything yet. But I do remember that this caused some consternation, because that was the reverse of what was considered normal. How could someone achieve more than they were able?

It seemed unthinkable.

Now, nearing the end of my career, I can say, yes, I’ve achieved some things—but it certainly isn’t because of great Ability.

I think, instead, the impetus behind Achievement is a synergistic process involving Attitude, Vision, Initiative, and Collaboration.

ATTITUDE controls action—specifically and primarily my own behavior. With the properly cultivated attitude, I determine what I choose to believe about myself, about my circumstances, about my possibilities, about my potential, and about my future.

VISION sees things that do not yet exist; akin to faith. It comprehends the end of a journey before the travelers arrive. It allows ideas—some little, some audacious, some preposterous—to root, grow, and develop into a preferred future. It believes dreams can come true.

INITIATIVE is what navigates ATTITUDE through all of life’s circumstances toward VISION. It is not permanently stymied, nor long stifled. It posits what-ifs, it explores things unknown, it aligns resources with opportunities.

COLLABORATION engages like-minded others to contribute diverse capabilities and insights, and produce a collective strength that no one can on their own—which is how any one person’s Ability is superseded to produce a higher level of achievement.

Together, an undefeatable attitude, a possibility-seeking vision, an unflagging initiative, and collaboration with similar mindsets creates a dynamic catalyst for achievements beyond anyone’s actual ability. 

So after a half-century of first-person application and research, I can confidently declare that Ability is not a direct determinant of success, contrary to the early 1960s educational theorists.

And while you can be justifiably proud of your accomplishments, recognize that greater results can nearly always be co-produced with collaboratively-minded others. 

And collectively produce far beyond that of any one's ability.