- Swirling Visions
- Posts
- The Progress Principle
After spending 2 hours at a grueling gym session, you start losing hope, you sit down on the floor, feeling defeated and discouraged.
"What's the point of trying?"
"I'll never be good enough."
Your thoughts become hostile, and you feel like giving up. Many of you have been in this situation like me, where no matter what you do, your situation doesn’t seem to improve.
It's not just you.
Progress, however, is not always apparent. It compounds, you learn from the mistakes you make, you seek others for feedback, you focus on improving yourself, and you feel like you’ve been going around in circles, but you aren’t, you might not be visibly closer to your goal, but you are more prepared and ready than before.
The study was conducted in 2012 by Ulrich Schimmack and Eric Standop, who were affiliated with the University of Toronto at the time. A study published in the journal "Journal of Positive Psychology" investigated the relationship between progress and well-being.
The study found that individuals who experienced progress in their lives, regardless of the speed or magnitude of the progress, reported higher levels of well-being than those who did not experience progress. A few hundred people were polled many times over the course of a year to form the basis of the study.
By showing up for your goals daily, you put yourself closer to your goals, and you place yourself on the path of success, ready for any opportunity that comes your way. You are always one step aways from a completely different life.
Change your mindset before you think of giving up.
Here are some steps to help stay motivated and keep a positive mindset that creeps up when our progress is slow:
Celebrate small victories: focus on the small steps and milestones that you reach along the way
Keep track of your progress: it helps you see your progress, even if it's not immediately apparent.
Set realistic expectations
Surround yourself with supportive people
Seek feedback: enables you to identify areas for improvement
Take breaks
Use comparison to improve your efforts, not pull yourself down
Focus on your why: remember what it means to you
Reframe your perspective: Celebrate your efforts and the skills you're developing.
Remember to be patient and kind to yourself, and celebrate your efforts, no matter how small they are.
Reply to this mail or tweet me at me @mounika_2000 with the following:
Do you track your progress?
Would you prefer to see visible improvement every day or see the results?
I respond to each and every reply.
Receiving email replies to the newsletter means the world to me. Thank you for joining me along on the ride, and meet you in the next issue of Swirling Visions.
PS: I share a lot of free checklists, templates, and trackers on my Twitter and Instagram. Follow me to stay updated.
Enjoying Swirling Visions? Consider supporting Buy Me A Coffee.