I remember as a kid playing a PC game with a major loophole. It was a medieval / fantasy game, so you could make magic potions, and you could also enchant armour to have magical properties.
As it turns out, there was a potion that would increase the power of your enchanting abilities, and there was also an enchantment that would increase your potion-making abilities.
So, players would go back and forth making a more powerful potion to make a more powerful enchantment, to make an even more powerful potion… to make an even more powerful enchantment. After doing this for about 2 hours, you could then enchant a sword to do 20,000,000% more damage, and enchant armour to protect you 20,000,000% more.
But that’s just a game, right? Surely there is nothing like that in real life? Well, it is all just cause and effect, and where there is cause and effect, there are loopholes. There are probably many more loopholes in real life than there are in games, and when you find loopholes, you win everything.
There are two types of people in life
The first type of person becomes wealthy, but they sacrifice their family and personal lives to do it.
The second type of person becomes even wealthier, and also has an amazing family and personal life.
The first type of person solves a problem and manages to complete a six-month project, in six months.
The second type of person solves a problem and manages to complete a six-month project, in six weeks.
The first type of person becomes fitter and healthier but spends a lot of time, effort, and money to get there.
The second type of person becomes fitter and healthier, with minimal effort, and even saves time and money while doing it.
The difference between these two types of people?
The first type of person isn’t finding loopholes, and the second type of person is.
Which type of person are you?
Are you going to settle for making sacrifices without trying to have your cake and eat it too? Or are you going to get serious about meeting all of your needs without compromise?
Sometimes sacrifices are necessary, but they shouldn’t be our first resort. And even if there are no loopholes, if there is no way of getting everything you want in a given situation, wouldn’t you want to leave no stone unturned, and actually confirm that? If I am making a sacrifice, I want to make absolutely sure there are no loopholes before I do. Spending the time to confirm there are no loopholes would make me feel a whole lot better making the sacrifice.
So, your challenge today is to find a loophole that holds the key to your most important goal.
Three ways of finding your own loopholes
Approach One – be significantly more ambitious
If you have to complete a six-month project, and you ask yourself how to complete that project within six months, you will think of ways to do more of the same things faster.
If you have to complete a six-month project, and you ask yourself how to complete that project in SIX WEEKS, doing more of the same things faster will not be enough, you will be forced to do something seriously different. Sometimes, the different angle you find is easier than doing more of the same thing faster.
This is how Richard Branson first got TV screens on the back seat of every plane. The bank declined his request to borrow money to install the screens in one of his planes so instead, he asked Boeing if they would customise the fleet of planes he would purchase, with screens on the back seats. Boeing said yes. Richard Branson then went back to the bank, this time looking to borrow a LOT more money to purchase a fleet of new planes, and this time, the loan was approved.
If you are stuck with a goal you cannot achieve, try making the goal more ambitious, and then see if there is an easier way forward.
Approach Two – cause an upwards spiral of success
Much like the game I used to play, where there was a potion for enchanting, and an enchantment for potions, there are positive relationships between many things in your life.
List out all of the advantages you currently have in your life or business, and see if you can pair two or more of these advantages together to cause an upwards spiral of success.
Even better, if you already know the Druid tool we teach in Thinking Foundations, you can take the biggest conflict holding you back in your life or business, and turn it into a positive upward spiral of success (this has been the most reliable and most successful approach of the three).
Approach Three – accept and work around your limitations
Everyone has a limited amount of time, money, and resources. Because of this we end up chasing, what I call, “The Boring Three” – 1) making more time, 2) finding more money, 3) hiring more people.
BUT, not many people are resourceful, creative, or innovative when they have all the money, time, and resources in the world. However, when faced with limitations… the ideas people come up with are astounding.
In every cohort of the Thinking Foundations I have run, I have found that the real breakthrough solutions come when we accept the time, money, and resources we have, and force ourselves to look for alternatives outside of “The Boring Three”.
What next?
It all comes down to this – the number of sacrifices and compromises you make in life, is in exact proportion to your ability to think better.
So, get started searching for loopholes using one of the above approaches.
And of course, if you want to think better, and start to recognise more of your own loopholes in your exact situation, then sign up for our Thinking Foundations course!
Jarrod is a Black Belt in Thinking instructor and a thinking coach.