Getting Out of My Own Way...

photo from 123fr.com

"To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to,

something to motivate you, something to inspire you."*

We've finished the first month of the new year. Hopefully, you're still following through with the any of the good intentions you made at the beginning of the year. I need to give props to my husband, who decided to lose 50 pounds. He went back to the gym, changed his eating habits and after 30 days of busting his butt, he's lost 20 pounds - and looks awesome! The workouts at Alpha Fitness may kill him before this is over, but no doubt he'll be ripped in no time flat!

 

I'm entering my fifth week of the six objectives I wanted to accomplish in the six week period from January 1-February 15. With two weeks to go, I'm doing okay. My focus on spiritual disciplines is going well, but getting to the gym four times a week...not so much. Matt and I are enjoying weekly date night- always a good thing!  As for my writing goals, I have two objectives: posting weekly to TallBrownBarbie blog and finishing my book proposal. I'm on track with blogging, but things with my book proposal are a bit trickier.

 

My book proposal...it's killing me. On the first day of writing, I was euphoric because it only took me five hours to create a framework for the book proposal and to start writing the first chapter. Then something interesting began happening in the second and third week of writing - a troubling pattern began to develop. I would be writing content, then realize that based on what I was writing, I would need to tweak the chapter summaries. Once I tweaked the chapter summaries, then I would resume writing. After writing for a bit, I would go back to the chapter summaries again. Call what you want - hamster wheel, spin cycle, insanity - whatever it was, I wasn't making progess and I was getting frustrated.

 

A few days ago, I made an important realization...I've got to get out of my own way.

 

QUESTION:  How do we break through when roadblocks seem to impede the progress toward our goals? How do we keep from sabotaging our hard work?

 

1. Re-assess your "win"  - Make sure you have a crystal-clear definition of your goal. Additionally, you must identify the payoff that achieving that goal will bring to your life. How will your achievement inspire or motivate you? Once you've got the answer to that question, you can use it to continuously create momentum to drive you over the obstacles that are sure to arise along the journey.

 

2. Don't let roadblocks obscure the big picture or your goal -  There's a million cliches about have courage. Why? Because we need constant reminders not to give up when the going gets tough. It's easy to let a series of discouraging moments or events overcome you, but keep pushing through. Not only does pushing through get you close to your goal, but there is an added value in experiencing the satisfaction that comes from enduring difficulties and overcoming them.

 

3. Slow and steady wins the race - The story of the tortoise and the hare is ancient, but still relevant today. To accomplish anything meaningful, we need to pace ourselves well over the long haul. In his book, Great By Choice, Jim Collins introduces the "20-mile march"** model advocating consistency and discipline over slash-n-dash attempts to hurry to progress. Sometimes, we do need to make haste and seize opportunities, but we cannot keep up a breakneck pace when chasing a goal or else we will miss important milestones along the way. It's better to take time to readjust our goals along the way than to have to backtrack because we hurried too fast and missed a warning sign or an opportune moment.

 

Based on the suggestions above, here's what I'm thinking for my situation:

1. My "win" is to finish my book proposal. The reason why I need this win is to move to the next step which is finding an agent, who might like me or what I've written. Fingers crossed.

2. I've got a lot of roadblocks - distraction, insecurity, fear, etc - and it's my job to self-manage my reactions to those feelings. I think that what I'm writing can make a difference, but if I talk myself out of doing this, I'll never know.

3. I want to be done with the book proposal now. Right now. In fact, I hoped I finished it this weekend, but sensed that I was psyching myself out, so I decided to take a day off and watch lots of Downton Abbey. Good move on my part.

 

 

How are your goals going? Where are your roadblocks - and have you lost track of your "win"? Pushing through our plateau moments or even temporary failures is all part of the journey.

Scriptural Inspiration: Romans 5:3-5 is one of my top 10 favorite verses in the Bible. The scriptual author reminds us that our difficulties give us an opportunity to develop endurance - and it is endurance that shapes our character. When we have solid character, especially when our character reflects the character of Christ, then we experience the magnficent hope that God will never leave us or forsake us in whatever we experience in this life. Here is the link to the verse: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%205:3-5&version=NLT

 

*Quote from Tony Dorsett

** Here's an article with Collins discussing Great By Choice. It's long, but if you like this stuff, it's a good article: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/30/jim-collins-great-by-choice-exclusive-excerpt/

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