Tired of measuring your progress by traditional standards? This if for you.
Did you know that only 9% of people successfully achieve their New Year’s resolutions?
The reason why the vast majority of us aren’t achieving our goals is not because we’re unmotivated, it’s because we aren’t measuring our success correctly.
Whether or not you’re into New Year’s resolutions, the beginning of the year is often a time for many of us to set goals and intentions for the months ahead.
Well, fast forward a couple months and here we are already in March. If you’re still “on track” toward your goals, you’re one of the rare few. Many of us have lost motivation or already given up entirely. There’s always next year, right?
We’re Taught To Put Ourselves In A Box
We love to measure things in quantifiable, black-and-white terms. If we’re not meeting our pre-specified outcomes, we failed, right? This rigid mindset is ingrained in us from early childhood. Western culture places high value on measurable outcomes, scientifically-proven results, and quantifiable data. We’re taught in school that the only way to succeed in life is to check the right boxes and achieve the highest measurable scores.
But what if our “success” isn’t measurable in the same way? What if we’ve been assessing our growth using limited and constrictive measurement tools this whole time?
A New Way To Approach Goal Setting:
Does this sound familiar?
Let’s say you set a goal to exercise 4 times a week. At first, you were excited to begin this fitness journey. You even over-achieved and worked out 5 days during your first month. But time has passed and you’re a few months in. Work has gotten really busy recently and you’ve had a few weeks where you only made it to the gym once or twice. You’re feeling down about yourself and unmotivated to keep exercising at all. There are other things that are taking priority and you tell yourself: “I’ll try again when life’s not so crazy.” Or, “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”
Many of us have experienced something similar. Maybe we even “achieved” our goal but were not able to maintain it as a lifestyle. In the end, we often feel a sense of failure and possibly even disillusioned with the idea of setting goals in the first place.
But what if we reframe the way we measure our growth?
What if during the month or two where you did exercise frequently, you learned that you prefer to go to the gym late at night rather than in the morning? What if you realized that you What if you got out of your comfort zone and tried
What if you discovered that while exercising 4 times a week felt great, you can still feel great when you exercise only once a week? What if you adjusted your expectations of yourself and embarked on your fitness journey with an open mind, willing to learn more about yourself rather than rigidly sticking to a plan? What if you celebrated the small (and big) moments of progress rather than only allowing yourself to celebrate when you’ve fully achieved what you set out to do?
Growth is not linear.
While we’re focused so heavily on achieving specific outcomes, we often miss new opportunities for growth, insight about ourselves, and progress to be celebrated.