Impossible Goals: Inside Dr. Ben Hardy’s Game Changing Psychology of Business Growth

In a business world obsessed with incremental growth and conventional playbooks, Dr. Benjamin Hardy is breaking all the rules. An organizational psychologist and bestselling author, Hardy has spent the last decade redefining how entrepreneurs scale—not just their companies, but their very identities.

Now, with the release of his new book The Science of Scaling, Hardy has taken his thinking to the next level. He delivers a rigorous framework for business growth that defies convention and delivers results that, by all measures, seem impossible—until they happen.

From Rock Bottom to Resilience

Hardy’s personal story is foundational to his philosophy. Raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, his adolescence was shaped by instability after his parents’ divorce. His father’s ensuing depression and addiction left a young Ben searching for structure and purpose.

“I barely graduated high school,” Hardy recalls. “But what saved me was the idea of a future self—something Viktor Frankl talks about in Man’s Search for Meaning. Without a compelling goal, life collapses into chaos.”

It was this belief—that the future is a tool for transforming the present—that ultimately propelled Hardy into psychology, missionary service, and eventually a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from Clemson University. Along the way, he discovered his voice as a writer and a thinker. Within 18 months of launching his first blog, he had secured six-figure publishing deals.

The Birth of The Science of Scaling

Hardy’s latest book was born from a problem he couldn’t ignore: Entrepreneurs resonated with the “10x” mindset but struggled with execution. The Science of Scaling presents a blueprint for applying that mindset systematically—and fast.

At its core is the “3F Framework”: Frame, Floor, Focus.

• Frame: “What you see is based on what you’re aiming for,” Hardy explains. “Set an impossible goal and suddenly, most of what you’re doing becomes irrelevant. That clarity is your filter.”
• Floor: This is the threshold between what you accept and what you eliminate. The higher your goal, the more ruthless your floor becomes. “If it doesn’t move you toward your impossible goal, it’s noise.”
• Focus: With the right frame and floor in place, focus emerges naturally. “You start seeing new, scalable paths—and stop optimizing what shouldn’t exist in the first place.”

The Psychology of Time Compression

One of Hardy’s most powerful tools is reframing time itself. “Most people set long timelines for big goals because it feels safer,” he says. “But if you give yourself 10 years to scale to $100 million, your present actions won’t change. Shrink that timeline to three years, and you’re forced to make radically different decisions.”

Hardy shared the story of a law firm owner whose revenue goal—$100 million in 10 years—became transformational once compressed to three years. “He saw he was doing ten types of law, none of them scalable. Within weeks, he cut it down to two, optimized for those, and built a national expansion strategy.”

Brutal Truths Most Entrepreneurs Avoid

Scaling, Hardy insists, isn’t about working harder—it’s about letting go.

“Most entrepreneurs build businesses that revolve around themselves. That’s a bottleneck. You can’t scale if the vision doesn’t outgrow your identity.”

He invokes George Washington as an unlikely business metaphor. “Washington refused a third term because he knew the nation had to stand beyond any one person. Entrepreneurs need to make the same choice: let go or stagnate.”

Hardy’s own business reflects that thinking. At Scaling.com, he set a goal to grow from zero to $150 million in two years—a target that shaped every hiring decision, filtered every opportunity, and forced him to step back from dozens of interviews and keynotes. “I realized I was optimizing my calendar for tasks that shouldn’t exist,” he admits.

Goals as Tools, Not Traps

Hardy is quick to clarify that goals aren’t about ego or emotional validation—they’re instruments of transformation. One standout case study is Alicia, a software founder who was stuck cold-calling credit repair companies. When she set a 90-day goal to reach 1,000 clients—a seemingly impossible target—she pivoted her strategy, partnered with a company serving 8,000 firms, and scaled in a week.

“The goal forced her to think at a higher level,” Hardy explains. “That’s strategy. That’s leverage. That’s the science of scaling.”

Identity Shift: The Final Frontier

True scaling, Hardy believes, requires deep internal change.

“It’s not just about what you’re doing—it’s about who you’re becoming,” he says. “Your goals should shape your identity, not the other way around. That’s repentance in the truest sense—a turning of direction. A willingness to strip away what no longer serves your future.”

As Hardy’s book rolls out—free to listeners at scaling.com/audiobook—he hopes it becomes more than a growth strategy. He hopes it becomes a movement.

“The impossible is where the breakthroughs happen,” Hardy says. “If your future isn’t forcing you to change the present, you’re not aiming high enough.”