Thank you for reading this Operation Melt blog update.
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip you to achieve your big goals.
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Amuse Bouche
My amuse bouche for you today is a light “dad joke” to entertain your mind before we get down to business. Like any other amuse bouche, you may hate it, but it is worth every penny that you paid for it, right?
I went to the movies last night. A man sat in front of me and had a dog with him. To my surprise, the dog seemed really engrossed in the movie.
After the movie was over, I went to speak to the dog’s owner. “This might seem odd, but it looked like your dog was really enjoying that movie.”
The man answered back, “yeah, it really surprised me too because he hated the book!”
Goal Success by Choice
Do you have dreams that you are trying to make come true? Do you have a goal that you are trying to crush? Success doesn’t happen by chance. You don’t have to get lucky or win the lottery to live the life of your dreams.
You just have to choose to be successful. If you make the right daily choices, adopt good habits and behaviors, and approach life with the right mindset, you can make your dreams come true.
Goal Success by Choice helps you make the choices that will move you closer to your goals and keep you from holding yourself back.
I hope this post helps you get a little closer to crushing your goals.
Choices for a Successful New Year – Part 5
This is it, the last Goal Success by Choice post for 2021. Christmas has come and gone, and the new year is just a few hours away. That means it is the perfect time for the final installment of my five simple choices to help you succeed with your goals in 2022.
The formula for success in 2022 is to set SMART goals and then make smart choices about how you pursue those goals.
Patience… Well, Sort Of
I never blame failure – there are too many complicated situations in life – but I am absolutely merciless toward lack of effort.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Let’s kick off today’s blog with three hypothetical stories based on real goal-chasers.
I want to lose weight…
Person A was in the middle of a weight loss journey. To date, every week, he watched the scale drop, and the pounds were melting away through lots of hard work.
He spent a week absolutely killing it in his workouts. Meanwhile, he managed his calories and ensured that he had a daily deficit of more than one thousand calories. This was going to be a great week in his journey.
At the end of the week, he stepped on the scale to see his progress expecting to see continued big losses. Instead, he saw that his weight was up three pounds from the prior week! That should be impossible, but there he was.
I want to be a millionaire…
Person B was trying to become wealthy and was quickly approaching a significant milestone in her net worth.
She was so excited to reach that next milestone that she spent a month trying to push it over the edge. Instead of going out, she ate from her fridge and pantry, brewed her own coffee, and stayed in every night. Every penny that she didn’t spend went right into savings and investments.
The end of the month arrived, and it was the moment of truth. When she checked her net worth, it was several thousand dollars less than the prior month because her investments lost value.
I want a promotion…
Person C was trying hard to advance at work. He consistently produced solid results, was well-respected, low-maintenance and was liked by all. He was definitely on the right path for a promotion.
He agreed to take on a special project that he expected would lead to that big promotion. He spent a year working long hours, sometimes late into the night and through the weekends. The project was successful and made tons of money for the company.
When it was time for his annual performance review, he was expected big things. He was confident that he would be rated as “exceeds expectations” and get that promotion. But that wasn’t what he saw. He was rated “meets expectations,” and no promotion was awarded.
So, what happened?
As I said, these stories are based on actual events that happened to a person chasing their goals. Despite putting in a significant effort, each story ended with a big disappointment. Where did our goal-chasers go wrong in their efforts? Where did they fall short?
They didn’t do anything wrong; they did everything right.
Each of these stories illustrates one of the dirty little secrets about chasing your goals. Sometimes don’t get the results you expected, or maybe even deserved, despite doing everything right. And this can be very frustrating.
These stories also reinforce the importance of this week’s choice for goal success. This may actually be the most impactful choice for your success and happiness. But, while it is super important, this choice may also be the hardest one to master.
You may be thinking that I am going to say that you need to be patient with your journey. But, that is only partially correct. It is a little more complicated than that.
This week’s choice is to be impatient with your actions but patient with your results.
Huh?
Effort vs. Outcomes
As we each pursue our big goals, there is only one thing that we can control: our effort.
Our hope is that our efforts will influence the results over time and achieve our desired outcomes. But, as the stories above highlight, the best efforts don’t always directly result in our desired outcomes.
But, why?
In most circumstances (including the scenarios above), outcomes are a combination of factors in our control and those out of our control.
Weight loss over time is a function of calories consumed versus calories burnt. But, weight loss is also driven by sodium, carbs, hydration, metabolism and many other factors. It is not a basic equation because our bodies aren’t computers.
Growth of net worth over time is definitely influenced by dollars earned versus spent versus saved and invested. But, the value of our investments is largely at the mercy of the overall market. External events (like a pandemic, war or political shenanigans) can cause the stock market to temporarily go down, and our net worth will follow.
Performance reviews and promotions require solid efforts from you as an employee. But, other factors such as corporate budgets, changes in policies, politics and even favoritism also factor into the ultimate results. Much or all of this is entirely outside your control as an employee.
So, What Do I Do?
Being impatient with your actions means that you will keep working hard despite the results. This includes continually reevaluating your efforts and looking for better, smarter, faster ways to get the job done.
Being patient with your results means that you won’t let temporary setbacks stop you.
How can you do this? Here are some crucial steps you can take to make this work.
- Give your best effort. As I said, your effort is the only thing in your control, so control it wisely. If you are committed to achieving your goal, be all-in with your commitment. Do the work every day.
- Trust the process. If you know you are working hard and doing the right things, trust that the results will eventually follow. You’ve done your research and are headed in the right direction despite stubborn short-term results.
- Find the right comparison. Comparison is the thief of joy, so be careful who you compare yourself to if you want to safeguard your happiness. The only person worth comparing yourself to is the person that you were yesterday. Comparing yourself to other people, who have their own stories, is invalid and simply a recipe for frustration.
- Easy to criticize. As you pursue your goal, there will be critics along the way. People will tell you that you should give up and possibly even belittle your goal. Ignore them because their opinions don’t matter to you! Most importantly, make sure to ignore the voices of these critics when they originate inside your own brain. Don’t let negative self-talk or imposter syndrome stop you from being impatient with your actions.
- I forgive me. You encounter setbacks along the way, especially with your biggest goals. Know that they are coming, learn from them and then forgive yourself. Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Use it as a stepping stone to even better results. It is ok to have failures. This doesn’t mean that you are a failure!
- Celebrate good times. Keep track of your wins and celebrate every one of them. Celebration is a way to give yourself positive reinforcement and be proud of your accomplishments. No victory is too small to celebrate, even if it just means giving yourself a high five.
- Stay the course. Regardless of the setbacks, the critics and the slow results, don’t give up on your dream. Keep moving forward, course correct as necessary, but don’t stop. Believe in yourself, believe in your goal, keep working and get ready to celebrate the inevitable success. As Thomas Edison said, many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
These steps sound easy but can be very challenging in practice. But, choosing to be impatient with your efforts and patient with your results is crucial to reaching your goal. More importantly, this is a critical choice to help you enjoy your journey while chasing life’s most important goals.
In short, work hard, let the results follow, but practice self-kindness at all times.
So What?
In the final installment of my five simple choices to help you succeed with your goals in 2022, I am sharing perhaps the most important choice yet. Despite its importance and apparent simplicity, it is actually extremely challenging. But it’s worth it because it may be the one thing standing between happiness and “I quit” in your journey.
Do you need a partner to help focus your patience and impatience with your goal? I am here to help.
Click Here to learn more about my Operation Melt coaching services.
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