Imagine

I am one of those people who believes that anything is possible given enough time and resources. This often gets me into trouble, because I am quite happy to follow up such a belief with the conviction that I can achieve it. Either I do, and those who doubted it get upset, or I don't, and those who relied on me do. The key is to limit the number of such statements you make in a day, then you can deliver on them.
I am, however, surrounded by people who believe that nothing is possible because there isn't enough time , or there aren't enough resources. Things that need a week's notice, several days of planning and estimating, and a schedule date a month away, with generous delivery dates to handle unmitigated risk, may seem on the surface more likely to succeed, but fundamentally there is an in-built assumption that things will fail, and that revelation of the inevitable must be delayed as long as possible. Many a large, long-running project runs over time and over budget because it has a large budget and seemingly a lot of time. When I manage a project, I take the slack out and aim for the ideal. If I finish early, then kudos to the team. If I finish on time, then I know I've been distracted and let the process slide.
There was once a move in management for setting stretch targets, and having bonuses associated with them. That is, defining how would you prove that you were really working optimally, and then being rewarded. However, what often happened is that people quickly realised that such targets were always achievable by those clever enough to use the system, and the incentive was enough to make them the average PM a lot more cunning. What is really needed is a social change that makes those involved in the project want to be stretched for their own benefit. It's very easy to get jaded, or else expect the bonus as part of the wage, and then start sliding.
By stretch targets, I don't mean working all hours and killing yourself to meet a deadline. A simple example is estimating a project, with all the risks involved, all of the time added to estimate when the project is likely to be delivered, and then take these away, and see how hard people work to mitigate those risks creatively, ensuring that they don't occur, or else have less impact. If the people in the team think about what might happen and move towards the good things and away from the bad, because of their social interaction and belief and involvement in the project, then it is destined for success, regardless of its deadlines.
If, on the other hand, people turn up for work, put in their time, strike off a task from the list, go home, and spend their whole time in a daze moving from task to task, then the tasks will never be complete. You'll hear the phrase "I never thought of that" a lot. I don't want to support the commercial enterprise that is Edward de Bono too much, but you have to think creatively. You have to learn how much you're not doing it now, discover how to do it yourself, practice, and then put it into practice in all facets of your life - work and home. A project team is not there to implement a solution. It is there to solve a problem. You can't rely on one or two problem solvers to come up with the solution and then it's all systems go. That's just crazy talk.
Nobody's perfect - not even me! - and therefore a solution creator will not find the perfect solution up front that needs to be implemented. They will find a good avenue worth persuing, and it needs to be pursued. If you're really lucky, they may continue to be a part of the project, and help to redefine the solution as it comes to fruition (as opposed relying on the users to tell you at the end). If you're really lucky, then everyone on the project thinks about the problem, and works towards solving it. A team is not a head with multiple limbs, it is a conglomerate of intelligences (I hope).
Imagine the possibilities.