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Influence #4: Define The Problem In Solvable Terms
In a critical scene in the movie Rocky, the original, the club fighter looks in the mirror and realizes that he’s been kidding himself: he doesn’t stand a chance against the all-time greatest champion, Apollo Creed. Girlfriend Adrienne asks him what they’re going to do. Rocky says something that changes the entire film, transforms it into greatness.
All his life, he’s never been anything. No one has ever gone the distance with Creed. Rocky may not be good…but he’s tough. And believes that if he cannot BEAT Creed, it is just possible that he CAN “go the distance.” And if he does…if he’s still standing after fifteen rounds of pummeling…for the rest of his life he’ll know he wasn’t just “another bum from the neighborhood.”
And because of that tactic, willingness to absorb punishment, he finds the opening he needs to knock Creed down (for the first time in the Champ’s career!), come within a hair’s breadth of beating him (split decision), and most importantly, gains the self-respect he needs to really embrace the love of his life. Wonderful, wonderful ending to a classic movie.
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- Understand and appreciate their world view
- Create a Base and get leverage
- Interrupt limiting patterns.
Now we have the fourth principle: DEFINE THE PROBLEM IN SOLVABLE TERMS.
If you work backwards from “Joy” as the ultimate destination, you’ll realize there are infinite…