A chasm is the gap that separates where you right now are from where you know you need to be.
The space between your thoughts and you clicking the ‘submit’ button for an application to your dream company is a chasm.
The space between your desire to tell someone what’s on your mind and you mustering the courage and telling them is a chasm.
The space between you refining your sales pitch and contacting your first customer is a chasm.
Crossing a chasm offers zero reassurances about what happens next, but it does provide the next best thing, which is a bonafide chance for something meaningful to happen at all.
Hitting ‘submit’ gives you a chance to be considered for an interview.
Telling someone what’s on your mind gives them a chance to react.
Making contact gives someone a chance to consider buying what you have to sell.
You may have noticed another important thing across all these examples of chasms: it’s 0 or 1. You have either crossed with a decisive action or haven’t crossed.
You hit ‘submit,’ or you don’t.
You speak your mind, or you don’t.
You make contact, or you don’t.
To make sure you’re not getting in your own way (let’s face it, we’ve all gotten in our own way at some point), ask yourself:
What chasms do I know I need to cross?
What decisive actions need to be taken for me to cross them?
What’s getting in the way of these actions?
Hold yourself accountable for those things.
Yes, chasms can be extremely intimidating. But crossing them is exactly the kind of courageous act that opens doors to new possibilities.
The more you can frame them as challenges to run towards versus run from, the better.