The idea of getting in shape is easy: burn more calories than you consume.
Just about everyone knows this, but far fewer people can sustain the exercise and curb the food intake necessary to make it happen.
Likewise, the idea of innovation is simple, many companies can set aside a committee or a department whose job it is to come up with fresh ideas.
But how many are willing to learn new paradigms, dismantle obsolete systems, and retool enough to follow through on the findings?
And as hard as it is to admit that change needs to happen in our lives, it’s way more difficult to become that better person. That’s why so many of Tony Robbins’ conference attendees are repeat customers.
Why do so many of us fail to meet the goals we set for ourselves? It’s nothing to be ashamed of: we all have dreams, and scant few will manage to fully make them into reality.
Maybe the answer isn’t to be so hard on ourselves for failing.
Instead, we’re better off recognizing the successes we attain along the way. Some might consider 2nd place out of 100 the 1st loser, but it’s still 98th percentile. And it’s way better than you were before you signed up to compete. Focus on the milestones, the new skills, the ways in which we are better, not the ones in which we fell short.
At the very least, let’s all acknowledge that execution is hard. Change is hard.
And at its most basic level, life’s great struggles are all about change. In nearly every good story, there is a lie that the main character believes. And that lie almost always surrounds some seemingly fixed aspect of their personality that could totally change for the better—if only they could put in a little more effort. Sustain the hard work a little longer. Just be that little bit more. And then accept that even if they never get to where they want to be, they will be way farther along than if they never set off at all.
The reason these stories get told over and over again is that they resonate. Over and over again, great people big and small set out on impossible journeys and discover either that the goal is fundamentally unachievable, or that the achieving of it doesn’t matter. What matters is the act. The journey.
It’s a cliche, but it’s one of those that happen to be true.
What to do if we find our goals too big, and the execution too hard? Focus on the immediate. Do something small. You may have heard about the ‘2-minute rule’ employed by the Japanese to overcome procrastination and start executing. It involves spending 2 minutes a day on their goals, because they recognize that easily achievable ‘quick wins’ are better than no wins at all. It’s that little bit that you do right now that matters.
And so, as the year draws to a close, I hope we can all be a little kinder to ourselves, think hard about the things we’ll be going for in the new year, and do a little bit today and the days that follow to get there. I hope that you will set goals that are as ambitious as ever. More importantly, I hope that you enjoy the doing most of all, no matter how imperfect it may be done.