At the end of the each day, do you celebrate what you’ve achieved or sit there and freak out about the things you still have to do?
So often we get hung up on what we haven’t done, all the things adding to our ever amounting to do list, which keeps overwhelming us and feels like we are getting nowhere. But we also overlook or dismiss the things we have achieved - no matter how big or small that achievement was. We have to remember that the action we have just completed required us to put in some of our own muscle power and motivation, and we should acknowledge and be proud of that.
So many of my clients do this with their own goals. They feel guilty when they haven’t quite completed all their actions for the week and feel embarrassed when we come to discuss them. However, this can actually be a good thing, not only can we take the time to recognise the hard work they have put into their completed actions, but also use their insights to apply it to completing other actions.
I recently have been working on a goal of getting up early every morning. I’m not a great morning person and when that alarm goes off, at the moment it feels like the hardest thing to just get up. There are so many times I have just reached for snooze button and another 30 minutes has passed. I’ve now been attempting this for a number of weeks and I think I’m now actually waking before my alarm – I’m not necessarily getting straight out of bed, but I’m generally not falling back asleep now either. When I do get up that extra time makes a real difference to my day. So I can’t get hung up on what I’m not doing and instead feel good that I’m slowly breaking a habit of a lifetime.
Remember all the small actions do add up, and don’t beat yourself up for what you haven’t done. Just ask yourself what worked for you with the stuff you have completed, and how can you apply that to the things you keep putting off?
So often we get hung up on what we haven’t done, all the things adding to our ever amounting to do list, which keeps overwhelming us and feels like we are getting nowhere. But we also overlook or dismiss the things we have achieved - no matter how big or small that achievement was. We have to remember that the action we have just completed required us to put in some of our own muscle power and motivation, and we should acknowledge and be proud of that.
So many of my clients do this with their own goals. They feel guilty when they haven’t quite completed all their actions for the week and feel embarrassed when we come to discuss them. However, this can actually be a good thing, not only can we take the time to recognise the hard work they have put into their completed actions, but also use their insights to apply it to completing other actions.
I recently have been working on a goal of getting up early every morning. I’m not a great morning person and when that alarm goes off, at the moment it feels like the hardest thing to just get up. There are so many times I have just reached for snooze button and another 30 minutes has passed. I’ve now been attempting this for a number of weeks and I think I’m now actually waking before my alarm – I’m not necessarily getting straight out of bed, but I’m generally not falling back asleep now either. When I do get up that extra time makes a real difference to my day. So I can’t get hung up on what I’m not doing and instead feel good that I’m slowly breaking a habit of a lifetime.
Remember all the small actions do add up, and don’t beat yourself up for what you haven’t done. Just ask yourself what worked for you with the stuff you have completed, and how can you apply that to the things you keep putting off?