Capacity vs. Capability

To truthfully become what you are capable of becoming, you have work within your capacity to create that.

Just this morning, I was on the phone with one of my health coaching clients, and she shared with me that she was frustrated with herself because she wasn’t getting done what she set out to get done every day / week. It left her feeling guilty, frustrated, and worst of all, distrustful of herself.

This distrust of herself was carrying into her coaching conversations. She told me about a woman she coached, and she knew the session plan they had set out wasn’t going to serve her client powerfully that day… but she didn’t trust her instinct. And she was right. It didn’t, and she felt that her client left feeling “fast and scattered” instead of transformed.

She had set up the perfect system to NOT trust herself:

1. Create a workload that you can’t manage
2. Tell yourself you will complete it
3. Distrust and beat yourself up for not completing it

Masterful, really.

So we talked about capacity and setting work amounts based on capacity. She said she knew what she was capable of, and that’s why she set out the work amounts she did. If she owned that her capacity was less, didn’t that mean she didn’t believe in her capabilities?

I reminded her that capability is different than capacity. Capability is what you are capable of. In the short term and in the greater sense of who you are and what you want to create. But capacity is something totally different.

Just because you’re capable of working 100 hours a week doesn’t mean that that is your capacity. You might be capable of running a 7 minute mile, but trying to sustain that over 4 miles might kill you.

Capacity is more than what you can cram into a day, hour, or call. It’s about creating impact. What can you deliver of quality from the work you do, in the time you have?

You may be capable of having 40 calls a week, but doing so creates fatigue, disengagement, and lower quality. Which translates to less impact, less clients, less reach, and ultimately, less capability in becoming who you are really meant to be.

Therefore, capacity and capability are not in opposition. To truthfully become what you are capable of becoming, you have work within your capacity to create that.

Capacity is about protecting your body, your energy, and your health so that you’re able to deliver the absolute impact that you know you are capable of. The two work side-by-side.

Where are you setting yourself up for failure in creating impact by working overcapacity?

Where would you like to create more impact by slowing things down?