The Blips You Experience When Pursuing Your Goals Don’t Alter Your Outcome
This past weekend, I did something different. Something my body wasn’t used to. Something that seemed harmless at the time.
My brother-in-law was showing me his new exercise room set-up. I was particularly intrigued by a contraption I had never seen before: an inversion table. This table allows you to hang upside down and can be used to promote recovery. Curious about all things fitness, I gave it a go. And, while I was hanging there, I felt a pop in my right ankle.
It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t a feeling I liked.
I didn’t think much of it until I woke up this morning, after a hard track practice last night, with a sharp pain in that same ankle.
“Oh, I’m sure it will just work its way out as I walk around a bit this morning.”
It hasn’t yet…and the day is almost done.
This weird little moment got me thinking about goals —because that’s what I do. The blips you experience as you pursue your goals don’t alter your outcome—that is, unless you let them. And, trust me, I’ve had my share of times where I’ve let blips completely derail me.
I see it happen too often with clients I work with, too. They have tons of motivation and excitement to go after a goal. We string a few weeks together. But then, inevitably, something happens.
And, it’s usually a tiny set back.
A blip.
But, it quickly turns into something enormous.
A few years ago, I was training a client for a sprint triathlon. This was something completely new to her and totally out of her wheelhouse. And, it was awesome to watch. She had a new energy. There was an excitement for other aspects of her life, too.
Things were going swimmingly (or maybe cyclingly…even, runningly). But, then, a planned vacation happened.
Something we both new about.
It was a just a few days.
A blip.
In the scheme of of a triathlon training program, it was a tiny amount of time.
But, in her mind, the time missed became an enormous wedge in the training that she had done. The blip—which had magically transformed into a massive roadblock— was too hard to overcome because perfectionism was the pervasive mindset.
And, she quit.
The Expectation of Perfection Alters Your Outcome
Perfectionism is stupid.
As Anne Lamott tells us, “perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.” (Note: Replace a shitty first draft with continued progress toward your goals.)
It’s a shame.
We think we have to be perfect when chasing after goals.
And, there’s a pervasive mindset among people believing that when perfection isn’t maintained, the process of working toward a goal just isn’t worth it anymore.
To me, this is so sad because the process—not the outcome—is where the real benefit of continuing to pursue a goal comes.
The blips—well, they’re always going to be part of the process. To be successful in the pursuit of goals, you have to embrace the blips and smile when they pop up.
The blips are the funny little gremlins that are trying to derail you—trying to make a mess—in the pursuit of your goals.
When you see the blips as the determiner of your outcome, though, the blips quickly transform into your outcome. And the outcome, like the client who was training for the sprint triathlon, is quitting.
Quitting the pursuit of your goals is likely a story you’ve told before—a story that is full of excuses and justifications and rationalizations about why you are no longer chasing after a goal you were once so excited about.
The good news: You don’t have to tell this story anymore.
Adapt to Your Blips by Looking for the Opportunities
Running is going really well right now. I’ve been watching my fitness as a runner and as a triathlete progress week after week. It’s exciting and it’s motivating.
So, this ankle blip could be an emotional disaster for me.
This ankle blip could give me blinders, creating an outcome of giving up.
This ankle blip could lead me to tell a story I’ve told before.
This ankle blip could become an enormous barrier.
That is, if I let it.
But, I won’t.
It’s just part of my process right now. And it’s on me to adapt my activities, behaviors, and habits. My goals don’t have to change at all.
Triathlon is multifaceted.
Fitness is multifaceted.
Goals are multifaceted, too.
There are lots of activities, behaviors, and habits that go into being a successful triathlete. I have to take all activities, behaviors, and habits—the holistic picture—into consideration when pursuing my goals, and use them all to my advantage when the inevitable blips happen.
The same is true with your goals.
There are lots of activities, behaviors, and habits that go into achieving your goals. When you know what these activities, behaviors, and habits are—and you know them deep down by working consistently on them all — then when the blips happen, you can simply put one activity, behavior, or habit down and adjust your focus to another one.
This adaptation may only be for short time.
Or, it may be for a long time.
The only way to find out, though, is to immerse yourself in your process.
And, in doing so—blips and all—take comfort in knowing that you’re still making progress, albeit different progress, toward your goal.
In doing so, you’re doing something different — you’re telling a story where you persevered on the path toward your goal rather than giving up and making excuses, justifications, and rationalizations.
There’s beauty in seeing goals through to the end, but you can only discover that beauty when you get there.
Don’t let the inevitable blips disrupt the beauty that you’ll encounter.
You already know what happens when you do that — that’s a story you’ve told before.
