Tracking Your Personal Progress
No matter what your self improvement aspirations are, it’s a good idea to periodically do some self-analysis to see just how “on track” you are. Whether you aspire to be a great tycoon, a great athlete or a great parent, it can be very constructive to see just how far you’ve come, and how you’re living up to your potential.
Do you still have the foundations of your positive mindset locked in, or have you been slipping a little? Hey, we all do. But it’s all too easy to go over to the dark side, so be sure you’re not letting those counter-productive negatives get the better of you. If you have to take steps to get this back, take them!
Now that you know your positive frame of mind IS intact, how are you doing from a scheduling point of view? Is your progress lining up with your wishes? If not, take a closer look at this and try to figure out why you’ve fallen short.
Frequently, it’s not because we’re doing anything “wrong”, but because our schedules weren’t realistic. This can show up for a few reasons…
It might be that you simply based your predictions on emotion, rather than experience or research, and you really did mean well when you pledged to become a guitar god by next week.
It could also be because you accepted an unrealistic idea some “expert” fed you, and you just didn’t know how much work there would really be.
It could also be that you made your predictions based what other people have done, but forgot to look at the circumstances in which they were working. If they had a bigger budget, a staff to help them, years of experience, more time to commit or some other “advantage”, of course it’s taking you longer! Lighten up, you’re being too hard on yourself.
In all these cases, you’ll need to do the research you didn’t do the first time, and gain a more realistic sense of what’s involved in getting where you want to be. Also, how long you should expect it to really take, based on what you have to work with. Now, reset your clock and continue.
The last “nice way” to look at this is that, hey, sometimes things come up! And they do. If you’ve spent the last 3 months in hospital then okay, get well soon and get back on track when you come out. And if you have kids, congratulations for getting anything else done – keep it up!
Okay, now let’s be honest…sometimes, it IS your fault! Are you honestly trying to get something done? To stay on any kind of schedule? Or have your promises to yourself about what you were going to do been a lot of talk lately? You know what they say, it’s amazing how long it takes to complete something you haven’t started yet!
Volumes can, and no doubt will, be written on this side of the problem of falling behind, but not today. Remember, you’re not doing yourself any favors by just thinking about doing the work.
