Personal Breakthrough Point

Most, if not all of us, have experienced moments in our lives when we felt that we had accomplished something great, something that gave us a deep sense of personal satisfaction and fulfilment. It would take no effort at all for us to remember those moments, and we would gladly talk of them if given the opportunity.

What are some of your breakthrough moments? Perhaps it was running the Marathon, reconciling with an estranged someone, giving up smoking, clinching that million-dollar deal, or finally doing that one thing you’d always wanted to do. Whatever they were, they represent a defining moment, something we would always relish and remember. Reminiscing about them encourages us to go even further and accomplish similar things in other aspects of our lives as well.

Some people like to describe the accomplishment of those breakthrough moments using the illustration of water being heated until it boils. At 90˚C, water is hot. At 98˚C, water is even hotter. At 99˚C, it is hotter still. But it doesn’t begin to boil until it reaches 100˚C. When water boils, steam is produced. When steam is produced, the capacity for harnessing the unleashed energy is created. Steam power has been used to power locomotives, ocean-going vessels, industrial plants, and is still used in similar fashion in a number of applications today. And all it takes is a difference of 1˚C! Just a little bit extra and we’d accomplish what we’d set out to do!

Are you familiar with this analogy? I dare say some of you are! How many of you have actually experienced this? As I recall, my own experience tells me that it takes a lot more than what appears to be a simple one degree change in the temperature! The amount of preparation, planning, thinking and training required to achieve any particular breakthrough was rather substantial in most cases. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

What REALLY happens when water is boiled? Most temperature versus time graphs are too simplistic in showing a straight line at a gradient from 0˚C to 100˚C.

That is not what happens in real life. When water reaches, say, the 90˚C range, we find that it takes more time for a 1˚C rise in temperature than before. For example, it takes more time for water to be heated from 90˚C to 91˚C than it takes for water to be heated from 40˚C to 41˚C. This means that the graph actually starts to plateau out in the 90˚C range, finally plateauing out at 100˚C. Why does this happen? Simple. Both the weak Van der Waal’s bonds and the much stronger hydrogen bonds in water are responsible for this phenomenon. More energy is required to break these bonds as water approaches the boiling point, hence the longer time required for the same rise in temperature than before.

So what are we saying here? That there is more than meets the eye when we talk about “just a bit more effort”! I can recall when I first started training with Lifeskills Enrichment; I’d undergone the Certified Behavioural Consultant Course just prior to that, and I wasn’t really convinced about how DISC could be used in helping to maximize people to their full potential – I’ve always been a Character First! person, though not a Character First! certified trainer, and I looked upon DISC as merely a superficial tool dealing with external interactions. Of course, right now I not only understand, but have come to realize, much more about how DISC can be used to lubricate interactions between all sorts of people with all sorts of behavioural styles! However, it took many training sessions to prepare me for the breakthrough in DISC that occurred recently for me personally, when I conducted a certification course and all the participants had a ball! Does that mean that I had no successes in DISC prior to this? No, but the last event was certainly something I shall remember for a long, long while.

So, think about it. Are you having some measure of success in what you’re doing, but feel as if you’re not quite there yet? You could be in the 90˚C range, and your steam engine power is just around the corner! So hang in there and don’t quit!

I wish you a year which is “Full Steam Ahead!”