Making progress (from pole to pole)

Making progress (from pole to pole)

Last summer, when I was training for a 5k, to keep myself focused and motivated I often jogged from light pole to light pole.

Visual markers were instrumental for my progress. I had to see the finish line.

Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy, explains that people do not accomplish their goals because they only focus on the outcome, not on the process.

The other day, while working on the book, I was sitting the table with books and note cards spread before and I felt a familiar flash of doubt. I looked across the table and said to myself, “Who am I kidding, I can’t do this.”

Left of the picture are the books I was using for research. The two columns of note cards are research and abbreviated stories for the first two chapters.

Cuddy calls big goals “moonshots”. Goals we dream about but need a telescope to actually see.

We romanticize reaching a goal but we don’t romanticize the daily grind, getting out hands dirty as we work to reach that goal.

Writing a book, running a race, starting a business, improving your health or your grades or your finances is only achievable if you take it slow, train humbly, and take pride in your incremental progress.

Whatever your “moonshot”– keep trying, keep working, keep running from pole to pole.

Be well,

Jay