The Law of Project Failure, Part I

by Payson Hall

The other day, I broke a 12" x 12" x 1" pine board with my bare hand after listening to a 90-minute motivational talk about breaking barriers to achieve goals. As someone with martial arts training, I was less impressed with my own success than I was with the success of a 12-year-old in the group of parents and children. The demonstration energized the participants, but the inspirational message, "You can do whatever you are committed to," troubled me. Positive thinking is great, but it has limits. No matter how much you "visualize" success, some things cannot be done within specified constraints. I suspect the session facilitator would have agreed, particularly if I had produced a 12" x 12" x 1" steel plate.