Our habits have a horrible hold over us. I’m not talking here of the obvious habits of pathological or psychological self-destructive behaviour – no – I’m talking about the insidious little behaviours, beliefs and attitudes that we allow ourselves to get away with, even though we ‘know’ they are not empowering (and we would often criticise others clinging to them). This is a challenge for most of us, and today was no exception.

I was working with a guy, providing follow-up support on a Goal Management programme. He is good. Great job, great track record, great prospects. But by his own admission it’s all been ‘incremental’ and ‘easy’. He ‘knows’ in his gut that he could achieve a great deal more. He ‘knows’ that in terms of his own capability and capacity  he is playing small and safe. We were working on this. I knew from our conversations that he is a keen sailor.

“Because we sailed too close to the shore”

I was reminded of the prayer that Francis Drake, vice-Admiral to Queen Elizabeth I, penned before he left on the Golden Hind to circumnavigate the world (and liberate a little Spanish gold for his sovereign queen) in 1577 .

Disturb us Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us Lord, when, with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life. Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity. And in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us Lord, to dare more boldly. To venture on wider seas. Where storms will show your mastery; where, losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future, in strength, courage, hope and love.

Although not a person of faith, this resonated deeply with said ‘Good Guy’, who, in addition to some wonderfully outrageous business goals has added a voyage to Fastnet rock and West Cork to his outrageous goals list. Given that the most he has done to date is sailing around the Isle of Wight and over to France, I would suggest there is nothing incremental or easy in achieving that one!

Feel free to contact me to discuss how we can tailor a programme to your exact needs.