Quantum Goals 3: The Becoming – Engineering the Impossible
The Becoming – Engineering the Impossible
By Jason Shelfer: Host of The Living Lucky® Podcast
In our first two posts, we examined the two extremes of goal achievement: the quiet, thirty-year alignment with a dream (the Great Barrier Reef), and the explosive, thirteen-month sprint to a World Championship title.
The second story is where we pause today. How do you go from a cold start, finishing dead last at your first competition, to breaking a World Record and standing on the top of the podium thirteen months later?
The answer is found in one powerful concept: The Becoming.
The Bridge Between Intent and Identity
When Jana made her audacious declaration—"I am going to be the World Champion"—she didn't just set a goal; she created a future identity. The gap between the "Jana-who-came-in-last-place" and the "Jana-who-is-a-World-Champion" was vast. You cannot achieve an extraordinary goal by remaining the same person who set it.
The secret to compressing years of progress into a single, focused period is to stop focusing solely on the result and start focusing intensely on the transformation required. This is the process of engineering a new self. Jim Rohn has a quote: “Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you'll make a fortune.” You “become” more of what you want by working on yourself.
Here is the blueprint for The Becoming—the deliberate investment we made to bridge that gap:
1. The Resource Investment: Time is the Ultimate Currency
We are fortunate to be professional podcasters, which affords us a degree of time flexibility. We recognized this freedom as a powerful resource—perhaps the most expensive resource of all.
The Daily Commitment: The training wasn't a hobby; it was a job. Jana was on the water almost every day. This daily, disciplined investment compounds exponentially.
The Strategic Pause: My pledge to pause my Life Coach business was crucial. It communicated to both Jana and the Universe that the goal was the undisputed priority. We both had skin in the game—we exchanged a certain, profitable resource (my business) for the possibility of an extraordinary, non-guaranteed outcome (the championship). This level of commitment activates the "Living Lucky®" success cycle.
2. The Expert Investment: Speed is Found in Mentorship
When you are chasing a quantum goal, you cannot afford the luxury of trial and error. You need a shortcut—and that shortcut is the embodied knowledge of experts.
Hiring the Best: We didn't just get a coach; we sought out and hired the best adaptive waterski coaches in the world.
Training with Champions: Jana didn't train in a vacuum. She trained with able-bodied athletes, and more importantly, with World Champions. She was constantly calibrating her efforts against the highest possible standard. Her mindset was to fight toward her ability, not her disability. This environment forced her to elevate her game immediately.
3. The Identity Investment: Competing Upwards
A common pitfall is to only compete against those in your own category. To become a World Champion, you must embody the skills and mental toughness of a champion, regardless of who is next to you on the dock.
Exposure to Excellence: By competing in able-bodied competitions, Jana normalized the level of effort and skill required at the elite level. She wasn't chasing the adaptive world; she was chasing world-class excellence.
"Figuring Out" vs. "Failing": As she learned from that first competition, coming in last was just data. Every slip, every missed trick, every fall was not a failure but a clue on what to improve. The new identity doesn't fear error; it embraces feedback.
The Moment of Proof: The World Record
The investments quickly paid dividends. In June 2025, just nine months after her initial declaration, Jana broke a World Record in the Women’s MP2 Trick category. This wasn't luck; it was the inevitable outcome of her commitment to The Becoming.
The Universe confirmed the alignment almost immediately afterward with a powerful synchronicity: the induction of her 2004 Paralympic Basketball team into the Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame. It was as if the past successes were blessing the present mission, affirming that this level of achievement was already in her DNA.
In August, the USA Adaptive Waterski Coach called. The mission was sealed: she was on the team headed to Australia. The commitment to The Becoming had manufactured a reality that was deemed impossible just one year prior.
This is how you bend reality. You don't wait for luck; you engineer it by changing who you are and where you invest your resources.
In our next post, we will dissect the magnificent moment of truth in Australia and how the very nature of Jana's commitment pulled in the final pieces of the puzzle—the people, the energy, and the breakthrough moments—to achieve the ultimate goal: The Vortex and The Flow.
Until then, consider:
What specific resource (time, money, attention) must you strategically dedicate today to invest in the person you need to become?
Who is the expert whose knowledge could save you years of trial and error?
Are you "failing" or are you simply "figuring out"? How can you shift your perspective on setbacks to accelerate your becoming.
🎨 The Becoming Cascade: From Current Identity to World Champion
This five-step framework defines the psychological and strategic milestones of The Becoming. It provides a clear path for anyone ready to transform their internal identity to manifest an external "impossible" reality.
1. 🎯 The Initial State: Current Identity (The Wish)
Mindset: Wishful thinking, limited belief, passive.
Action: Inconsistent effort, easily discouraged.
The Key Behavior: The declaration is a "someday" hope. You are defined by current capabilities (e.g., the "Last Place" version of Jana).
The Trap: Treating the goal as a destination rather than a transformation.
2. ⚡ The Activation Point: The Audacious Declaration (The Command)
Psychological Shift: Radical Commitment. You transcend passive hoping and issue a non-negotiable command to your future.
Action: Immediate, focused mobilization. The search, the sign-up, the first day of training.
Identity Shift: You move from "I want to be" to "I am." This future identity begins to dictate your present-day behavior.
The Science: Identity-Based Habits. Effective behavior change stems from a shift in self-perception—acting as the person you are becoming.
3. ⚙️ The Transformation Phase: Engineering The Becoming
Strategic Focus: Massive, targeted investment. This is the "heavy lifting" of the success vortex.
Key Actions:
Resource Dedication: Time is the primary currency. Pausing or reducing competing commitments to create a vacuum for success.
Expert Solicitation: Hiring world-class coaches to collapse the timeline from years to months.
Deliberate Practice: High-intensity training with immediate feedback loops.
The Mindset: Growth Mindset. Setbacks are no longer "failures"; they are "figuring out" moments and essential data points.
4. 🌀 The Breakthrough Phase: The Vortex and The Flow
The Phenomenon: The alignment of external resources and opportunities. This is the Living Lucky® state.
Key Actions:
Performance Breakthrough: Achieving the first objective proof (e.g., breaking a World Record).
Synchronization: External validation appears—the Hall of Fame induction, the coach’s phone call, the "lucky" break.
The Science: The Reticular Activating System (RAS). Once commitment is total, your brain filters for the resources and opportunities that were always there but previously invisible.
5. ✨ The Achievement State: The Achieving Identity (The Receiving)
Mindset: Presence, confidence, and the capacity to receive. The "You-of-Today" has finally merged with the "You-of-Tomorrow."
Result: The goal is realized (World Champion).
The Permanent Upgrade: You are structurally and psychologically a different person than the one who started. You are now capable of maintaining and expanding this level of success.
The Science: Self-Efficacy. This success builds an unwavering belief in your ability to execute future "impossible" tasks.
Want more actionable insights and real-world examples of Living Lucky® principles in action? Download and subscribe to the Living Lucky Podcast, where Jana and I share 15-minute, powerful conversations three times a week to help you engineer your own success.
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