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When it comes to setting and striving towards any goal, whether it be health, financial, relationship or career, it’s important to avoid getting stuck in the “all or nothing” mind trap.
Repeat after me…
Some-thing is better than no-thing.
Explore the example of a 10-pound weight loss.
After watching endless Instagram influencers and YouTube stars, you’re convinced the best path to success is as follows:
- 5am wake-up call
- Daily workouts (plus a long run on Saturday and yoga on Sunday)
- 2 hours of weekly meal prep
- Weighing and measuring every meal
- 4 liters of water
- Meditation and gratitude journaling before bed
In rare cases, this routine may be kept up…for a while anyway.
But ultimately this degree of behavior is generally short lived and the ensuing failure (for the #475th time)could finally be enough to lead to submission for good.
In cases where it’s not a total disaster, at minimum it adds to skepticism and eventual cynicism about the likelihood of finally improving one’s life.
On the flip side, we may believe that given our past lack of success, it's not even worth starting.
In the end, we find ourselves fully embracing the master plan or not wanting to start because we see our efforts as eventually fruitless.
There is a time and place for these intense goal setting sprints. Hyper focused attention and dedication can help propel you through a “sticking point”.
Use them in small doses with a specific goal, outcome, and plan.
However, the best outline for consistent improvement begins with transitioning your all or none mentality to a framework that will support long term success.
STRATEGY #1
Give some thought to what you truly want.
- Document your goals, make them SMART. Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Relevant-Time Bound.
- Ask yourself…”Who would I need to become in order to achieve this goals?” Start to embody that person.
- Determine what skills and capabilities you will need to have, learn, or hire to take action.
- Break your goal(s) up into actionable steps and reverse engineer the process of future success.
STRATEGY #2
Choose one single action to complete and repeat.
It’s helpful to understand that we can still make plenty of progress without having to overhaul every single habit.
Some-thing is better than no-thing.
Instead of working out 5 days a week for 60 minutes a session. Make a commitment to completing 3, at home workouts of 20 minutes each. It may not seem like much but compared to what you’ve been doing, it’s plenty.
As you repeat, succeed, repeat, succeed, and so on…you can always add.
Incorporating more habits becomes easier as momentum builds vs. starting off with too many before you’re ready.
Over time, the impact of small victories will accumulate and leave an exponential effect.
STRATEGY #3
Measure progress over outcomes.
With an all-or-nothing mentality, we may be left unsatisfied with our efforts, often leaving major scars on our self-esteem.
Change can be hard.
Hold yourself accountable to your predefined actions, not your outcomes.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could guarantee success?
No doubt confirming the completion of a goal is valuable but it’s the process that yields the most significant benefit.
Commit to the actions, complete them, and make those your success metric. The results will come as an effect.
Don’t get stuck in the minutiae or overwhelmed by the size of your dream. Repeat “some-thing is better than no-thing” and act accordingly.
What’s your #1 success tip to get a life enhancing change started?