On a few occasions I’ve referenced my Sunday morning ritual of jumping on an elliptical machine at my local gym and distracting myself for an hour with whatever is playing on the bank of video monitors directly in front. There are newscasts, DIY style shows, music videos, and sports reports to bounce around, but on Sundays, I always seem to catch part of Joel Osteen’s sermon from Lakewood Church, in Houston, Texas. No, this is not an endorsement of him or his views, but he is a public figure and does do his best to focus on positives as far as I can tell.

On this particular day, it was one line that struck me. It spoke to the message of staying within yourself and setting goal expectations in a meaningful way:

‘Never promise the moon when you’re reaching for the clouds.’

In work and life, we set goals for ourselves regularly. New Year’s resolutions notwithstanding, we endeavour to exercise more, eat healthier, get back to reading, commit to a new hobby or learn a new skill. We reward ourselves along the way, and although everything may not work out exactly how it was imagined, the idea is to improve some aspect of performance. That brings us back to the quote. What expectation did we imagine at the outset?

If we’re using distance as a reference, expectations can range from surface-level to the moon and beyond. Surface-level expectations are ultra-conservative, highly visible, controllable, and readily attainable. A business example could be the threat of a new competitor in the market. We may want to hold the line, not make any waves, and quietly strengthen internal operations. In this case, expectations are modest and actions tend to be low-risk. Another example would be recovering from a severe knee injury. In the aftermath, range-of-motion exercises are low-impact, and gains are slow.

The further from the surface we go, the more aggressive the goals, the bolder the risks we may take. The number of variables increase exponentially and therefore, we have less practical control over the outcome. We often use the term ‘blue-sky’ when pitching ideal scenarios in meeting rooms. It’s FUN to explore all the possibilities. You often learn about the WHYs of a given project, and the strategies about which team members feel the most passionate. The sky extends quite a ways off the ground, but if all the random variables align just right, we may win a result akin to drawing the correct lottery numbers.

The clouds are low in the sky, and I like to refer to these as our stretch targets. If we reach for those, we are pushing ourselves a bit out of our comfort zones. It’s like climbing a mountain. Reaching the peak is impressive. The higher the peak, the more impressive the feat (and the view). Incidentally, many of the tallest peaks are above the mid-level cloud base of 6500 ft. When we stretch ourselves to those heights, it takes a strong foundation, a willing team, dedication, and tenacity to succeed. When you do, the feeling of accomplishment is amazing.

So when we look at the moon, reaching for the sky, or shooting for the stars, it’s not impossible, but extremely tough. There are so many variables, and putting that many jigsaw pieces together the correct way, in the right order, in the proper time frame is something very few can manage. I’ve never been much of a gambler, so admittedly I will carefully weigh risk/reward in anything I consider, usually opting to hold back. On occasions where I have the confidence to reach past the clouds, I commit to it, but stop short of promising that to others.

Knowing that I’m quite heavy with the metaphors, it’s essential to me that we bring things back to a healthcare, or better yet, a pharmacy perspective. Lets take the hot topic of the past year, medical cannabis and legalized marijuana. As pharmacists, we need to be on the cutting edge of emerging therapies that may impact patient health. Some effects are positive. There is some evidence that cannabis may increase quality of life from those suffering from chronic non-cancer pain. The negative side include clinical studies of potential interactions with other medications and adverse effects like psychosis or hyperemesis. Setting goals for education could have different levels: surface-level expectations may include reading a pamphlet, or taking a webinar. More ambitious could be developing an educational session and having it filmed, or traveling to host peer groups and providing interactive presentations. Finally, blue sky may be investing in certification or course work and become a collaborator with government stakeholders to help form public policy.

We can see the moon, and we can take aim, but progress is not defined my how many times we get there, it’s what we learn from the attempts. Summit the mountain enough times, the distance starts to add up.

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.