Why You Can Do Anything!

Editor's Note: This is a guest post from fellow Atlantan Kyle Crooke. It speaks to a section in my latest executive briefing  The Human Quotient - The Most Potent Force for Your Business Success, regarding leadership bandwidth and capacity, as well as our thinking impacts our outcomes.

An Argument For Why You CAN Do Everything

Imagine a stovetop. 

Four burners.

The first burner represents your health.

The second burner represents your work.

The third burner represents your family.

The fourth burner represents your friends.

And the Four Burners Theory tells us that you have to cut off one of your burners to be successful.  If you want to be extraordinarily successful, you have to cut off two of your burners.

What do Iwant to tell you about the Four Burners Theory? 

It’s only true if you believe it to be true.

In other words, this theory is a limiting belief.  A limiting mindset.

I may not be much of a chef myself, but I’m pretty sure we can use all four burners, simultaneously, when preparing meals.

There’s nothing stopping us from living an integrated, engaged, successful life full of health, achievement, and relationships.

Sure, sometimes our priorities conflict.  And we have to make choices.

But that’s life.

And it doesn’t mean we have to cut off a burner entirely.

Burners have heat levels, typically from Low/1 all the way to 9/High.

For some foods, like eggs, it’s more appropriate to cook at a higher setting and let the pan warm up before placing your eggs on the pan.

For other foods, like chili, it’s more appropriate to cook at a moderate temperature, for a longer time.

For multi-step preparation foods, like macaroni, it’s more appropriate to cook the prep materials (i.e. water) on high, and then leave the burner on low as you mix the butter, milk, and cheese into the macaroni pasta.

Life isn’t binary.  It’s not as simple as turning a burner off or on.

Obviously we can’t do EVERYTHING, but we CAN do way more than we think we’re capable of.

All four burners don’t have to be on high all the time.  In fact, they shouldn’t be.

They should be turned on to an appropriate level at the appropriate time.  So that whatever is cooking on the burner will cook properly and taste the way it’s supposed to.

It doesn’t make sense to cook eggs at a low temperature if you want to scramble them. Likewise, it doesn’t make sense to start cooking bacon at a high temperature if you’re looking for an even crisp.  The way you want to prepare your meal also impacts how you use your burners.

Just like your intentional approach to your different burners will impact how you use them.  How you view your burners will directly impact your level of engagement with each burner.

On those nights where you miss your child’s baseball practice because you’re on a work deadline … don’t feel guilty about missing that practice.  Your work is simply on a higher heat level than that particular practice at that particular moment in time.  During the upcoming weekend baseball tournament, your work won’t need as much heat.  In turn, you’ll turn your work’s burner on low, and you’ll be able to turn your family’s burner on high.

But let’s add another dimension to our stovetop – instead of four separate, disjointed burners on our stovetop, we can actually integrate and holistically engage multiple burners at once.

Why can’t you mix the health burner and family burner?  Something as simple as a family walk or a group exercise class will reinforce good health habits and increase your family bond through group activity.

For those of you who may be starting businesses, partnering with friends, and leveraging family investments for start-up capital … aren’t you mixing the work, family, and friends burners?

The message behind this article is simple – don’t trap yourself by limiting your goals and undermining your ability to live an engaged, holistic life.

What isn’t as simple is your process of integrating your four burners into your daily priorities and activities.

But it’s something you can do!  I may have been a little overzealous by categorizing my argument as a way to do EVERYTHING, but I know that you can do MUCH more than you think you’re currently capable of.

Start thinking about how you can integrate and engage different parts of your life.  Based on your needs for a given day, you can work with the heat levels, foods, and pan sizes as needed.

Your health, work, family, and friends burners are under your control.  They’re all burners on your stovetop.

Take ownership of your stovetop, hold yourself accountable, and manage your burners in alignment with your goals.  

It’s okay if a couple of the burners aren’t as large as the others.  Just like a normal stovetop, some of the burners are small and some are large.  And some people simply prioritize their lives toward one or two burners – it all depends on the chef’s preferences.

The burners are as large as you want them to be.  You control the size, mix, and heat of your burners.

You’re the chef of your kitchen.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to give up parts of your life to accommodate other parts.

Your life is dynamic – it’s all about give AND take (not just the “give” or “give up”).  The only thing that’s stopping you from lighting up ALL of your burners … is you.

You may not be able to do everything, but you can do as much as you allow yourself to do.

STOP limiting your potential and START lighting up your burners the way that YOU want to.

You’re the chef of your life, after all.

What are you cooking today?

*Thank you to James Clear for inspiring my reflection on the Four Burners Theory.  You can read James’ article here.

// Known as Mister Motivator, Kyle Crooke is a personal development consultant, and motivation coach. He helps his clients lead a more purposeful, passionate, and persistent life.  If you're interested in working with him, take a look at his portfolio. You can reach out to him at: https://kylecrooke.com/offerings/  | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleocrooke/  Instagram: @claim_your_purpose

// JCS Business Advisors is a strategic business management consultancy via our expertise in human behavior, we partner with forward-thinking senior leaders, entrepreneurs and their HR counterparts to bridge the knowledge & execution gap of connecting people, performance, and profits, resulting in high-performance leadership teams and organizations. // email: joann@jcsbusinessadvisors.com // Ph: 888.388.0565 // Schedule a complimentary advisory call and receive a copy of our latest executive briefing. Learn about our "all-in-one" system that develops competent leaders and managers, effectively manages operations, people & talent.