What Works

5Calculating Capacity

I would have liked to say, ‘It's okay. I can do this,’ but the truth was that I couldn't.

—Jenny Lawson, Broken (in the Best Possible Way)⁵³

I CAN'T TELL you how many times I've been asked: Is this goal realistic? It's a frustratingly difficult question to answer. Whether an objective is “realistic” depends less on the objective itself and more on the resources it requires to attain it. Can you build a business that does a million dollars in revenue in the first year? Absolutely, but you need to invest capital to build the systems and structure that objective requires. You likely also need existing connections to workers you can hire, clients who are ready to deal, and skills to deliver the product or service that generates the business's revenue. Can you run a marathon this year if you've never run before? Sure thing, but you'll need plenty of time for training, a budget for shoes, and decent healthcare to keep your body functioning.

Of course, having access to resources doesn't guarantee success at an endeavor. But every “realistic” objective has a minimum set of resources that it requires to even be possible. Another way to think of access to resources is capacity. Capacity is the extent of what you (or a business, family, or organization) can do with the resources you have access to without burning out or breaking down. To know whether an objective is realistic, you have to calculate your capacity.

Capacity is like a budget. When you budget your ...