3 Strategies for Sustainable Progress
3 Strategies for Sustainable Progress
Mindset shifts to balance performance with well-being.
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Complaining is not a strategy. You have to work with the world as you find it, not as you would have it be.
Jeff Bezos
To perform at a high level and maintain our well-being is a tightrope walk. Too much focus on performance, and we'll beat ourselves up, and too much focus on protecting ourselves, and we'll never push past our comfort zone.
To find the proper balance, we need to accept our circumstances, focus only on our next move, and let go of the outcome.
Complaining is not a strategy
Complaining does not fix our circumstances; it just prolongs them.
No matter how hard we try, we can't shape the world into what we want it to be or what we believe is fair, just, or reasonable. The world is what it is.
We're better off working within our circumstances rather than trying to change them.
We can only begin to move forward after we accept our circumstances and restraints. Without acceptance, we can never start.
If we thought we deserved a promotion, but it wasn’t given to us, complaining cannot change that fact. It will only serve to prolong our current position, or, more likely, pull us backward.
To get what we want, we need to accept the reality that we missed the promotion (whether justified or not) and begin focusing on the actions and results required to secure the promotion next cycle or land a new role elsewhere.
Complaining is never rewarded. Results are.
If we find ourselves complaining, it means we’re refusing to accept reality. Instead, we should accept what happened and move forward.
Focus only on the next move
Once we’ve accepted the past, we can focus our energy on the present to drive the results we want in the future.
In his book "Clear Thinking," Shane Parrish implores readers to "always focus on the next move, the one that gets you closer or further from where you want to go".
When we're trying to balance performance and well-being, we don't have room for wallowing in the past or speculating about the future.
Instead, all of our energy should be focused on doing the next right thing. Parrish likens this to a game of poker.
Players are dealt cards entirely based on luck, but the best players always win.
They don’t complain about their cards or blame others. Instead, they play the hand they’re dealt to the best of their ability given the situation they find themselves in. They don’t focus energy on trying to change the hand they’re dealt, they focus energy on planning their next move.
We should take the same approach with whatever we’re pursuing.
A lot of what impacts our day-to-day lives is out of our control, but no matter what hand we’re dealt each day, our energy is best spent focused on our next move.
Past hands and future hands don’t matter. you have to make the right move for the cards in your hand and on the table right now.
It doesn't matter what you had last hand, what cards you might get in the next hand, what cards your opponent has, or how they are playing their hand. Those are all distractions.
The only thing we should focus on is making the next right move that brings us closer to our goal.
Let go of the outcome
There’s an interesting paradox in many worthwhile pursuits: the harder we try, the worse our results.
Golfers understand this better than anyone. The harder the swing, the worse the results. The more golfers focus on their score the harder it gets to hit each shot.
The best golf is played swinging the club slowly and not caring about the results. With all of the pressure and tension removed, the results get better instantly.
The same is true with performing, presenting, creating, and competing across almost every different discipline.
The more we care about the outcome, the harder it is to achieve it. We do our best work if we let go of the outcome.
Worrying about what others will think or chasing perfection will take us out of our rhythm and degrade our performance.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
When we're in execution mode and actually doing the thing we need to, we have to slow down and trust our training, our muscle memory, and our instincts.
When we focus on the outcome, we change our behavior. We try to force things, take shortcuts, forget the basics, and try things we've never done before.
If we accept our circumstances, choose to focus only on our next move, and let go of the outcome, we can balance our performance with our well-being and make sustainable progress in the worthwhile pursuits that make us a bit better each day.
Prompts
What is the last thing you were complaining about? Did this move you closer to or further from your desired outcome?
Consider the things you’d like to accomplish this week. What is the next move you can take to bring yourself closer to where you want to go?
What results are you chasing? What strategies or techniques can you try to practice letting go of the outcome?
Deep Dive
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.
Kevin