Are You Limiting Yourself Some Good 19th Century Motivation Talk

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Are You Limiting Yourself: Some Good 19th Century Motivation Talk I had a coaching session last week with an outstanding young associate who will soon become a partner. We were focused on her plan for 2011. I asked for her to share her goals  with me. One goal she shared was the amount of business she thought she could bring in from her own clients. When she finished I asked how she had estimated the amount of business. She replied that she felt certain she would get that amount based on what she had in the pipeline for her one big client. I then asked is she felt she was limiting herself by setting a goal she was pretty certain she would reach. I told her I thought she might be focused on not failing rather than focused in succeeding. Are you like the lawyer I am coaching? Are you limiting yourself to what you know you can achieve? I always set goals that other lawyers said I would not be able to accomplish. I wanted to push myself. I wanted to be able to visualize something really big. Have you ever heard of  James Allen, an English author in the late 1800s? I bet most of of you haven’t.  He was a self-help guru when self-help gurus were not cool. Here are just a few of his quotes on self motivation. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.