Watching the final episode of Michel Roux’ Service last night, I was struck by what the participants had achieved over just 8 weeks. They had come from ‘less than happy’ life situations and blossomed as they were given tougher and tougher challenges. Some of these kids had never been in a restaurant other than McDonald’s and here they were serving in Michelin starred establishments.
It was slightly sad to hear, early on in the series, a couple of the participants saying “I can’t do this” and that led me to reflect a little on how we can achive the impossible. I have 5 suggestions…
1) Change your mindset about what is possible. Specifically, start to believe that it is possible and that you can do it. If you don’t believe then you will never deliver. Michel Roux was unremitting in his praise and reinforcement for the capability of his proteges – how often did we hear him saying “You can do this”.
2) What happens, happens – work with it. You cannot control very much, if anything, about what is going on around you so embrace the opportunity whether it comes your way through sheer coincidence or planning. Embrace the opportunity and use it to further your aims. You may not get the perfect opportunity at the perfect time so do the best with what you have now. The servers quickly learned that even though customers do some odd things and make some strange requests they could meet thier needs with a smile.
3) Get out of your comfort zone (yes, again). Tell other people-friends, partners, bosses etc – what you are going to do. That public commitment can make so much difference. Michel Roux certainly took these guys out of their comfort zones!
4) Take action. Thinking never changed the world, it was only when the thinker decided to take action that something in the real world changed. The sooner you start to take action, the soon you get feedback and the possibility of learning whether you need to pursue the current course or make a course correction.
5) Seek help. No matter how much you practice, there is likely to be someone or something out there who can help. Someone who shares part or all of your aim, someone who has been there before and can help you or maybe just someone to prop you up when the going gets tough. Do what is necessary. If you do not have all the answers, and you almost certainly don’t, then seek them from someone who might have. Keep going and strive for improvement. Michel constantly introduced his trainees to different mentors, each of whom brought a different set of skills to learn from.
Anthony Robbins is quoted as saying:
what we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.
