Hitting the Bullseye

Reader,

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When I was a kid, the carnival rolled into town once a year. I still remember the ring toss and carefully aiming for those impossible glass bottles. That’s where I won one of those little woven toys — the Chinese finger trap.

It looked so simple. Slip a finger into each end. Easy, right? But the moment you tried to pull them out, the trap tightened. The harder you tugged, the more stuck you felt.

The toy is a trick. It's counterintuitive: you have to relax. Pushing your fingers inward first releases the tension to free your fingers.

How many times do you treat your own life like a finger trap?

You pull harder, push longer, force more effort—thinking effort alone will be the pathway to success, make the impact, the key to 'freedom'.

Sometimes the breakthrough comes when you do the opposite: slow down, breathe, lean in instead of pulling away.

It’s a reminder that ease is often more powerful than force.

This week, notice where you’re pulling against a trap of your own making.

What might shift if you softened instead?

Maybe the way you are doing it is just too damn hard. Let's quit trying harder.

Ask yourself: What would make this easier?

Oftentimes, we're working so hard and things still aren’t turning out the way we wanted — or not happening as fast as we hoped.

You grind until you hit frustration, throw up your hands, and say, “I don’t know how.”

When doubt creeps in, and you want to declare “It’s too hard,” stop and ask yourself:

Who can help? The who’s are often the fastest path to the compound effect — because they already have experience, can open new doorways and open you to new thinking.
What’s a new pathway? The way you’ve been doing it has gotten you this far, but it likely won’t get you to your next. Find new pathways.

Here’s an example: I want to land more speaking opportunities for my Do Something Impossible and Audacious Excellence keynotes. I’ve had some success, but I want more. I asked myself those two questions: Who can help? What’s a new pathway?

The answer turned out to be the same for both: Creating a referral community with other speakers, where we recommend each other to conferences we’ve already spoken at. It’s both the who and the new pathway — a simple shift with the potential to open doors faster than going it alone.

Another example, during an archery lesson on a family vacation, I was pulling the bow back as far as I could and missed again and again. My son told me that pulling back as far as you can actually defeats the purpose — precision doesn’t come from force. It comes from how you release the arrow, not how hard you strain to pull. This new pathway was the key for me.

Sometimes, the trap we’re in is of our own making.

Pulling harder, thinking the intense effort is required, when the real solution is to pause, soften, and look for the easier, smarter move.

The next time you feel stuck, remember the finger trap: freedom comes not from fighting harder, but from choosing differently.

Find your who.

Discover your new pathway.

That’s where the impossible starts to become possible.

📓 Journal Prompts for the Week Ahead

If I can do anything, but not everything, what must I let go?
What evidence are I seeing in my life that I'm becoming READY for my next leap?
Who am I when I'm decisive?

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