As summer peaks it is time to review the goals we set for ourselves months ago. Did we start that exercise program? diet? Did we update our resume? Enhance our network? Complete that household project? Begin that class? Take more time for ourselves, our loved ones? Did our performance match our expectation? The answers to these questions can lead us to look at how we can successfully achieve our goals.
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.
Pablo Picasso
Often we set goals from a sense of lack. For many of us a feeling of ‘less than’ prompts us to begin goal setting. We see goals as a way to lift our sense of deficit. Beginning from a sense of lack and the hope for immediate gratification is a shaky foundation for achieving success.
To build a strong and durable base for consistent achievement we need to focus on the actual process we engage in. We can free ourselves from the dead end of measuring our merit by our performance and look instead to our commitment to practice.
Photo by S.Su / CC BY
Practice isn’t the thing you do when you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.
Malcolm Gladwell
Do we have a useful set of sequential steps to move toward our goal? For instance, have we googled the gyms in our area, found out the hours of operation and membership fees? Or, have we looked up a meet up group that gets together to walk every morning? Have we checked that our walking shoes are in good shape or need to be replaced?
We also need to build in feedback loops so we can better understand where to refine or redesign the steps in our process. Keeping to our exercise example, using a fitness device like Fitbit with its online support or a simple paper and pencil record of the exercises done or the miles walked can be both instructive and encouraging. Adding in small rewards as we progress is another effective method of bringing us closer to success.
Finally we need to release our need for immediate results. Losing that extra poundage, lowering your blood pressure, gaining the strength for a marathon — none of these goals will happen overnight. Our cultural tendency to get things done quickly, to have immediate gratification is counterproductive.
Slow down, quiet the inner critical voice that is always ready to weigh in with negative comments like, “You missed yesterday’s walk, why bother walking today?” Center yourself with a cleansing breath, shake off the unhelpful self talk, reclaim your commitment and put your focus on the application of a consistent, methodical approach. It’s your practice that counts, not your performance.
The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln
Photo by Tim Kossow
