Perfection is Inaction

“I’ll start on Monday.” This phrase is overused by people wanting to make a change. But the idea behind it is important;

              This action is not important enough to me to do now. I will wait until the perfect situation arrives.

Everyone at some point has decided to make a change. Few make a permanent change. It is tough to break habits and build new ones. The grandiose goals that require many steps and short-term deprivation or at least discomfort to achieve, are made easily and frequently. These types of goals lead to a culture of failure.

Of course it is made with the best of intentions. And the temporary feeling of empowerment is wonderful. But it is just temporary.

I am going to lose 100lbs!

I have heard this many times. And I have seen people do it, with and without help. Simply one could start walking and stop eating junk, depending on how hard they worked it might take about a year. Here is the entire program:

Step 1 – Get Up!

Step 2 – Walk out your front door.

Step 3 – Walk past a fast food restaurant.

(keyword, PAST, don’t stop at it, you don’t eat at these anymore)

Step 4 – There is no step 4. Just do this every day.

It is this simple. So why isn’t everyone that wants to be thinner achieving that goal? Let’s let the Underpants Gnomes explain:

 

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1.       Magic Pill

2.       No Reasonable Plan of Action

3.       Grandiose Goal

Don’t take this as give up and don’t try, but a huge goal without a plan is exactly that;

NOT TRYING

You make the goal. You feel good. You never take a real action. Or maybe you take the first step, but with no plan on what the next step or breaking it into smaller achievable goals failure is assured for all but the most dedicated.

Culture of Failure

How many times can a person make a grandiose goal and honestly believe that this time it will be different?

It will be different if I have the perfect….

At some point in this process the expectation on failure corrupts the individual. Yes they still try, because they have to try something, the goal gets bigger and more unrealistic to get the same empowered feeling as before. Deep down the goal setter knows it’s not going to happen.

Enough of the Depressing Stuff

Stop with the specific objectives,

I am going to lose 100lbs.

Change it to,

I am going to be healthier.

The difference is that the second is actionable and can be applied repeatibly throught the day.
Setbacks happen. With the first goal every setback makes the goal seem impossibly larger. However, a setback with the second is more easily contained. It isn’t an all or nothing goal. It is process orientated, so what matters is that the general trend is towards being healthier.

Repeat It to Believe It

This will help internalize it, so when it comes time to make a choice the healthy one becomes the front runner. If you walk into the grocery store with the mindset of “I am going to be healthier” wouldn’t it be easier to stick to the shopping list? Sure the initial days of “I am going to lose 100lbs” is going to be rock solid… until the dam breaks. Then the negative emotions of another failure turn on the self-destructive autopilot.

Plan for Success

Perfection is impossible, and waiting for the perfect moment or setup garuntees that nothing will every happen. Focus on improvement. Getting better is always possible with purposful effort. Make continual small improvements, they are the steps along the path. Those improvements or steps can be planned. When done correctly each one can help build positive momentum that is crucial for success.