‘But are they not put off if the task is impossible?’ I counter-questioned.
‘Of course. So there is a fine balance between what is far from easy and what is just plain impossible. Man can get to the moon on a space rocket but we cannot land on the sun.’
‘That would certainly be an all-consuming experience,’ I said, smiling at the thought. ‘So a potentially inspiring task is one that offers to stretch you, to extend you in one or more dimensions of your ability, perhaps even your being. As Robert Browning put it:
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?’
‘Isn’t that how we grow?’ interjected the young chief executive.
‘Possibly, if we stay stretched, as it were, and do not shrink back into our normal former or habitual selves like snails contracting back into their green-yellow shells. To be stretched is to be exercised beyond one’s ordinary or normal limits. Arguably we all have some stretch – the capacity to be stretched – within us. Perhaps it relates to the spirit within us.’
‘It doesn’t really matter what we call it, I know what you mean,’ said the young chief executive. ‘Personally, I love a challenge.’
‘A challenge is really just a summons of some kind, a metaphorical form of someone suddenly thrusting a legal writ or demand into your hands, or a sentry challenging a stranger to identify himself or herself, or being called to fight a duel to answer some affront. The variety of challenges we are more likely to face share their characteristics of being often threatening, provocative, stimulating or inciting.’
‘Did you say inciting or exciting,’ queried the young chief executive.
‘It may be both,’ I answered. ‘Either way a challenge is a call to make a special effort, often at a real personal cost.’
Example Is Not The Main Thing In
Influencing Others – It Is The Only Thing
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