Pushing Towards Success
"Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty." - Henri Frédéric Amiel
I run every other day during the warms months in Michigan. I believe in exercising because things that are designed to move must be kept moving to continue functioning properly; exercise does that for your body. However, I noticed that I had hit a sort of wall in my running routine. As I explained to my sister, an avid runner, "I run out of breath at a certain point in my morning run and I have to walk. Maybe I have asthma or something." She looked at me and said, "Do you push yourself?" I thought about that and realized that I really didn't. I had fallen into a routine. Success tip number one: to improve and succeed, you must push yourself.
Those of you who are runners may be sitting there, nodding your heads. Those of you who aren't may be thinking, "Mark's going to write about running and I don't care about that very much." However, the concepts we're going to cover this month apply to every area of your life. Think about your work-life. Have you fallen into an easy routine? Could you push yourself to do something a little better, faster or simpler? Think about your relationships in the same way; are there opportunities for improvement there? If you answered, "No" then I suspect you're not being honest with yourself, because there are always opportunities for improvement. Success tip number two: pushing yourself past self-created boundaries in your life applies to every area of your life.
Returning to my running example, I found it pretty easy to push myself for the next few runs because I was inspired by my sister's comment. On each of the next three days, I pushed and found myself being able to run just a bit more each time. I decided it was probably not asthma, I had just fallen into a rut. As Earl Nightengale said, "a rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out." While habits can be empowering like running every other day, they can also limit you as they had in this case. Sometimes you have to stop, take a step back, and examine why you are doing things the way you are. Have you fallen into some easy habits that limit you? Look at each area of your life and uncover these debilitating habits that exist. Then find ways to inspire yourself to go beyond them. Success tip number three: break bad habits by pushing yourself beyond self-created limits.
An interesting thing happened to me on the fourth running day: some of that initial excitement for pushing myself wore off. The thrill of being able to go beyond my self-imposed limits began to dull. Rather than thinking about how pushing myself would make me better, I began to focus on the tedium of running. There are two point where it is crucially important for anyone trying to break bad habits to maintain their drive. The first is when you start; the hardest part of changing a habit is beginning a new one. The second is when the excitement of the new behavior wanes. This can be harder to guard against. If you can get past this tendency to revert to your old habits, you are likely to form your new, positive habit. (It takes at least 20 days of consciously-repeated behavior to form new habits.) Success tip number four: persevere in maintaining your positive push for success.
Naturally the same success concepts that work elsewhere apply in your push to improve and escape that rut. Preparation is always an important element to success. In my running example, I get up earlier and stretch properly so that I am well-prepared for that moment in the run where I must push into that extra bit of running I had not been able to achieve previously. Another key to success can be goal setting. I sometimes set small goals for myself during the run when I start to tire. "I can get to that next lamp post." "I can run to that next street sign." I do not set goals at the beginning of the run, however. Why? I don't want to do anything that limits my possibilities in the beginning. Success tip number five: use proven success techniques to support your push forward – planning ahead and goal setting – in a way that supports you.
Even when you do push past your previous limits, you will eventually encounter a plateau. Plateaus are a natural part of growth. Even elite athletes reach a point in their training where they seem to be working just as hard, pushing themselves to the limit but making no progress. Zig Ziglar talks about the Chinese Bamboo Plant, a good way to explain such plateaus. As he explains it, after the bamboo seed is planted, the gardener waters, fertilizes and cares for it for four years without any sign of new growth. In the fifth year, the plant sprouts and grows ninety feet! The question is, did it grow ninety feet in one year, or did it take four years of care to get the bamboo seed to the point where it could produce such explosive growth? Don't give up your push for improvement just because things don't appear to be getting better. You will sometimes reach a point where you see no external progress because the improvement is internal. Success tip number six: upon reaching a plateau in your development, continue to push yourself recognizing that this is a normal stage in continuing improvement.
Have a great month!
