Do you make things more complicated or harder then they need to be? I can and often do. Do your expectations exceed your current state resources?
What matters most, the ideal that you care about deeply can motivate, but, it can also become an overwhelming judge of your current inadequacy. We can sort of panic and over-strive to get there.
For me, the vision of perfection can lead me to grandiose over-reach. I get excited and take on too much, or place the bar too high regarding my performance. I want to take huge and expert leaps toward the goal. Of course these fail. Yes, I know failing is good and all that. But the magnitude of the fail seems to have something to do with our ability to keep moving forward. Recovery from a big fail is more difficult. So what is the answer?
Big important goals only provide direction. Do not confuse the mountaintop with the section of trail you must walk today. When climbing a mountain we cannot simply take huge perfect leaps up the mountain. We can imagine doing so, and that’s kind of fun, but don’t let these imaginings set up grandiose expectations that lead to predictable problems we create for ourselves: unhelpful pressure, over analysis, bad decisions, catastrophic fails. Ya, ya, I know, huge and hairy goals are good and all that, – for an end state. But, don’t confuse end state goals with daily tactics. Huge steps lead to huge fails. Down the chasm you go. Grandiose efforts lead to grandiose flops. These are hard to bounce back from.
Today, the mountain top is not my goal – my goal is simply progress toward the mountain top. If the sum total of my imperfect effort is one step closer than that is good enough. I know this is true because a big fall can mean a serious setback, expectations of “perfection” (the bar set too high) can lead to a depressed paralysis where no movement forward occurs. I speak from experience here.
Take an imperfect step toward that you goal today. Take some switchbacks in order to manage the grade, marching straight up the mountain is not going to happen – embrace the switchbacks!
Ben Wagner (245)
Member The365Commitment
