Go Slow with a New Goal
By making it possible to succeed a little at a time you will find your stamina and ability improving.
People can be impatient.
A probationer will come in amped up and ready to go. They have set a goal and are running forward towards it. Plans, ideas, hopes and dreams are swirling around them and they cannot wait to get going. They often rush headlong into the unknown thinking if they don’t get going fast, they won’t get what they want.
The faster they move has to mean the easier it will be to win.
Unfortunately, the opposite is often true. It’s at this time I have to push back on their hurry. While I always encourage them to set goals and plans, I have to make sure they know not to go too fast when implementing them. A dash forward usually ends up becoming a slip and fall backward.
When we embark on something new, we can set such large and unrealistic expectations that they can be unobtainable. We set schedules that are too ambitious or milestones that are too quick. We try to put everything into the start and quickly run out of steam.
Instead, we have to remember to go slow. Just do a little. Baby steps should be the mantra. A little at a time. Remember, it all adds up. It’s better to go slowly and be able to maintain that movement then to sprint out of the gate and stop in exhaustion. Take a moment and remember all the other times you started and quit. I can pretty much guarantee you went too fast and too hard. Moving like this almost always ensures your failure.
Don’t do that - Go slow.
Make the process easy and doable. By making it possible to succeed a little at a time you will find your stamina and ability improving. You cannot run a marathon if you haven’t ever completed a mile. Make things easy on yourself. Let yourself develop and improve slowly. Not only will this allow you to move forward, it will give you the time to adjust and improve.
The goal is to actually finish. Speed has nothing to do with it.
In the end it’s not how fast you reach your goal that will make the difference. What will really matter is finishing. Give yourself an opportunity to win by not running at the start, instead striding carefully forward.