You can improve systematically

We all hit a rut from time to time.  But sometimes it feels like the rut is the normal path.  Instead of occasionally having to overcome obstacles, we get hit with them over and over. 

During these times, I tend to feel hopeless.  It feels like nothing I do is good enough.  Instead of making progress towards my goals it feels like my goals are moving further and further away.  My pace of improvement is slower than the pace of the goals moving away, creating more distance between where I am and where I want to be.

Many people that I know give up at this point.  They throw in the towel.  They pivot.  They go back to doing what is pleasurable instead of what is difficult.

The problem is that this can quickly form a habit.  Soon, at the first sign of trouble you naturally see the pattern forming and quit before you put in too much effort.  This allows you to save the pain associated with working really hard for something and falling short.

Some people might advise to push through and just find more motivation.  They say you need to put in more effort.  But in our own minds, we are putting in all the effort we can.  We can’t possibly increase the effort, especially when the goal seems less likely to be reached.

I have found that there is an alternative to the approach of relying more motivation and effort.  It actually involves switching from an effort-based mindset towards the goal to a systems-based mindset towards the goal.

Instead of relying on effort and motivation (emotions) we switch to rely on routines and habit (systems).   

Emotions tend to be fleeting.  It might seem that emotion is the most powerful force we have available but that is completely misleading.  Emotion feels strong but doesn’t hold up in the long term.  Soon it fades and gives way to the systems in our life. 

So when you hit these obstacles, learn to take a step back and look at the routines and habits in your life that are related to the goal.  Most likely we will find that some are actually pushing us away from our goal. 

Then we have to shift to work to try and change those routines and habits.  We have to change those recurring behaviors.  We have to create a new normal for our lifestyle. 

This means following the systems and habits approach to improvement.  Using this method we slowly and methodically change the recurring behaviors through consistency not through effort.

Instead of adding more motivation or trying to exert more effort, we actually use less of these.  We find some very small aspect of our routine and then work to consistently change it. 

By being consistent we start to form a new habit.  The problem for most people is that they say it isn’t enough.  This small habit won’t bring on the rewards of reaching the goal. 

But we can’t just do one small thing and expect major changes.  We have to do this one small change, and then add more and more and more.

Once it becomes habit we can now add more to it.  Once we do that a few times we can leverage this new positive habit to create other areas where we start to change our habits. 

We start with the initial instance, then we start to form patterns, then those patterns start to form structures and those structures start to form new mental models.   

We don’t see success after one day or one week or even after one year in most cases.  Instead we slowly start to see progress towards our goal.  Then the rate of progress increases as we continue to follow these new systems that we created.   

This method is available to everyone.  That means that you can improve systematically.  You can do what is necessary to improve and get better.  You can reach your goals.  If you have struggled so far, try changing your mindset from focusing on emotions to focusing on systems.