Striving but not arriving?
Do you ever get the feeling you’re not getting anywhere no matter how hard you push? I call this striving but never arriving! We all feel that way at some stage. My tip for combatting this feeling, which can de-motivate and hold you back, is to remember there is two gaps to focus on in life. These are:
- The gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
- The gap between where you have been, or started, and where you are now.
Both are equally important but many people forget to look back to where they started, or where they were and forget to celebrate their success along the way. I believe in celebrating success, not too much mind you, but rewarding the hard work that you’ve put into getting to a certain point or goal. It can round out that journey and help to hit the reset button for the next. This can be in your personal or business life; The principle is transferable.
Evaluation of your now, or as is position, is important to move forward towards your goals however never forget how far you have come and what you have achieved. The feeling of achievement and success will help keep you on point for the next phase you’re about to deploy.
Have a great Monday and week ahead everyone.
[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default - DM on Discord @galenkp#9209 -]
Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash
Hey @galenkp
Striving but not arriving...I love the idea behind it. There is a mix between extrinsic and intrinsic drivers, on what gets us there and what keeps up behind (in default position).
You may like to see my article on this... https://steemit.com/psychology/@coachmelleow/motivation-moment-12-how-to-stay-motivated
Keep it coming mate! Love your writing.
Best regards,
Mel @coachmelleow
Thanks mate, I just preach what has worked for me and sometimes people listen. I appreciate your comment and will check out the link. Thanks for your favorable comment on my writing. Much obliged.
I think it's super important to look back and see how far you have come. It reminds you that the goals ahead are achievable with time, just as we have done time and time again. I think sometimes we tend to think of the failures and not so much of the lkessons learnt from those that help us move forward. Without them there would be no forward.
For one that has been through what you have I agree that this is a critical stage in progression. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Great point. Remembering past progress can give us encouragement for the growth that's possible in the future.
Thanks for dropping by @jasonstaggers. I hope all is well.
I think it's also very important to acknowledge that progress is often not linear.
As long as you keep doing the right things, keep on top of things that you need to keep on top of, and remain disciplined and determined, more often than not you will progress.
Sometimes life just takes a little bit of patience...
Well said!
Your words are indeed true. Some of us focus too much on the obstacles ahead of us and forget to look back and appreciate how high we have climbed. I feel celebrating successes as well as striving after the next goal, gives one a balanced picture and a stabilized planning system. For you do not work out of the fear of failing; you know where you where before and the strength you discovered as you overcame previous obstacles. You know that strength has not deserted you in this present endeavour.
You also will be able to take failure well. When we forget success and remember only mistakes, failure becomes difficult to deal with. We do not see the lesson, just the pain.
When things go slow in business, it is the memories of those peak periods that makes you keep pushing because you know it will be better.
We sometimes overextend ourselves or become relaxed out of wishful thinking. Either we feel that we have to compensate for something we think we lack or we feel that everything is going to work out fine, afterall we have done it before.
This is what looking at where you are coming from might cause. Remembering success makes some of us forget that success is not a gift; it takes work. We often forget the sweat and toil it took to get to where we are, so we become complacent then we fail.
The key is to look at the present and identify the obstacles you are facing and deal with them.
Previously i have had curations from ocd as well as curie. Now the memory of seeing the upvotes on my blog will never leave my head but the truth is, i will probably never get curated by curie again. Do i keep on doing what i was doing, hoping for curation that will never come, or do i study where i am now and restructure my blog accordingly?
We need to be thankful as well as prepared. We need to look at the whole picture, not just parts of it that make us happy.
peace.
I agree. Seems like you’re on the right track with some useful tools in your tool box. Keeping focused on the why is important. That’s the reason we have chosen to undertake an endeavour, can also be very important. It’s not just in business either; The same applies in every aspect of our lives.
Third time trying to get this comment to post.
I know what you mean. It's easy to get discouraged with how things are going or how they will go. If you are able to look back and see that you're not the person you were before, that even if you've regressed in some areas, you've grown and developed in many others. Then you can give yourself credit and have more confidence that things going forward will be better than today.
I have a section in my personal business plan at the back called The Done List where I can write the things from my business plan I have attained as I achieve each one. It is motivating to flip over and see how my year is progressing and what I have actually completed as far as goals go. My personal business plan contains business and personal goals and I read it at least 6 times a day which also keeps me on point. Doing so helps keep the WHY front of mind. (Why I do whatever it is I am doing).
Thanks for your comment, as always.
Thats a good point to focus on the gaps. Nice photo by the way.