All You Can Be Ladder
Move from comparison to self-improvement, then beyond fixed identity
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 97%
Wilkinson presents three increasingly open ambitions. “Best ever” depends on comparison, competition, and other people's verdicts. “Best I can be” moves the reference inward but still estimates potential from a remembered version of the self. “All I can be” releases the predetermined identity and asks what can emerge now. The mechanism is to inspect a goal for external comparison, identify the past creation being used as a ceiling, separate the person from the role, and run an exploration whose outcome is not guaranteed. Wilkinson links this openness with creativity: effortful control can organize an existing blueprint, but it cannot discover what lies outside it. The model does not reject standards or skilled practice. It changes the source of direction from protecting a known identity to exploring capacity without requiring the next creation to confirm who you are.
Origin
Wilkinson describes moving from wanting to be the best rugby player ever, to the best he could be, and finally to exploring all he can be. He connects the shift with releasing his attachment to creations and fixed roles.
Core principles
- 01Being the best ever depends on comparison and other people's judgments
- 02Being your best still uses a remembered identity as the ceiling
- 03Exploring all you can be loosens attachment to a predetermined result
- 04Creativity requires room for an outcome you did not plan
- 05Roles can guide action without defining the whole person
How to run it
- 1
Locate the comparison
Ask whether the goal counts only if you beat, impress, or receive validation from someone else.
Pro tip Name the audience or ranking explicitly.
Watch out External standards can still provide useful information.
- 2
Find the remembered ceiling
Identify the past performance or identity you are treating as the definition of your future best.
Pro tip Look for goals phrased as returning to or improving the old self.
Watch out Past evidence is useful, but it is not a complete map of potential.
- 3
Separate being from role
Describe the role you perform without making it the boundary of who you are.
Pro tip Replace “I am only” with “I currently do.”
Watch out Loosening identity does not remove duties attached to a role.
- 4
Open the outcome
Choose a direction that expresses interest or capacity without insisting on exactly how the result must look.
Pro tip Define the experiment and learning target, not a verdict on your worth.
Watch out Consequential experiments still need practical limits.
- 5
Create without gripping
Give full attention to the process, then release the creation rather than using it as permanent identity evidence.
Pro tip Notice whether protecting the last success is narrowing the next move.
Watch out Openness is not an excuse to ignore craft or feedback.
- 6
Review aliveness
Assess whether the experiment increased creativity, engagement, and available choices, then choose the next exploration.
Pro tip Treat surprise as useful evidence that the identity boundary loosened.
Watch out A difficult result does not automatically mean the direction was wrong.
In the wild
After injury, Wilkinson tried to return to exactly who and where he had been. He later saw the contradiction: a search for new potential had become a mission to restore an old identity. His later shift toward “all I can be” opened interests and projects that did not need to preserve the rugby-player boundary.
→ Potential became an open exploration rather than a better version of one fixed role.
Illustrative example: a departing executive notices that every next step is designed to prove she is still a top executive. She keeps her financial obligations visible but runs a small teaching experiment chosen for curiosity, without requiring it to reproduce her old status.
→ The experiment creates evidence about a wider capacity without forcing an immediate identity replacement.
Common mistakes
Creating a new superior identity
Calling yourself a creator can preserve the same attachment if the creations still have to prove who you are.
Rejecting all measurement
The model challenges identity-based comparison, not useful standards, feedback, or evidence.
Using openness to avoid commitment
Exploration still requires a real experiment and responsible action rather than indefinite abstraction.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for career, performance, or creative transitions where an old success has become the definition of what future success must resemble.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for abandoning responsibilities, expertise, evidence, or clear standards merely because structure feels limiting.
From the transcript
“I embraced and I celebrated my creativity as I got older what I did was I held on to my creation”
“all I can be means going beyond identity”
“the best ever is all about doing”
From the episode
Jonny Wilkinson: Winning The World Cup Led To My Darkest Days