Why Progress is So Important
This week I was reading an article by David Burkus titled “Why Motivation Doesn’t Last”. You can read the whole article here. There were a couple of points that stuck out around how progress and motivation.
That got me thinking about current and past frustrations in my life and how it seems that there is almost always a build up before I get frustrated and that is generally tied to a lack of progress. So I thought I would share a few ideas around this topic.
What Do I Mean By Progress
I want to be very clear about the scope of what I mean by progress. For purposes of this post, I'm focused on the type of progress we associate with a project, career, goal, etc.
Let's talk about a few of these and how progress is a motivator.
Personal Goals
Weight Loss
For those of you that have struggled with weight loss (for whatever reason), tell me if you can relate to this. You start on a weight loss programand for the first few days you are totally engaged and are eating right, exercising and everything else you should be doing. You get on the scale and have dropped a few pounds. Pumped up? Absolutely so you keep at it.
A few weeks later you are doing the same things as at the beginning but haven't lost an ounce for the last couple of weigh-ins. What happens to your motivation? Most people become very demotivated at that point and then start to slip back into their old habits. Why? Because they can no longer see the benefits of all the changes they made. It's very difficult to continuing to work so hard and have nothing to show for it.
At Work
I have spent a lot of time working with team members and associates that were new to business, new to their job, etc. Quite often these were younger folks just coming out of high school or college, or maybe it was their very first non-fast food job. Normally I hire them because I see they have tremendous potential even if they don't have direct experience. In those cases, it is critically important to have appropriate expectations up front and then to focus on progress, not the end destination.
There are several reasons for this. One is that most of the time, the job I hired them for is really not a destination at all. It was usually an entry level job that they took to get some experience. Another reason is that no matter how much potential they have, they are not going to hit the ground running on day one. If I have that expectation, they are not going to meet it. In addition, I need to help them see a path towards success. It is my job to help them understand the key progress milestones I expect them to meet along the way. They are welcome to exceed them, but I should never expect it.
This same set of principles applies to almost anyone in any stage of their career. Even someone at the pinnacle of their career, in their ideal/dream job, has goals beyond that job. So that job really is a means to an end, even if that is retirement.
All of us fall short of our full potential and need to understand our milestone map. It doesn't matter if we are creating our own plan or if we are working with a manager or another leader on it, the principles should be the same.
More of the Why
One of the biggest reasons progress is so important is that it's focused on the journey rather than the destination. Most of the time people are so focused on the destination that they don't understand that the journey is probably way more important.
Let's go back to the weight loss example. How many of people have had a period of successful weight loss only to gain it all back? This is a great example of why the journey is more important than the destination. Sure it's important that the number of the scale goes down and/or hits the target. But more important is learning the healthy habits along the way.
Those that learn and embrace those healthy habits are much more likely to keep the weight off after they have reached their goal. Those that focus solely on the number on the scale may miss all the lessons along the way. As soon as they hit their target, it is so easy to go back to the habits that put on the weight in the first place.
Another reason progress is so important is the toll that a constant drive for perfection can bring. What do I mean by that? If you are constantly striving for perfection or even to be the best, what are the odds you will ever achieve it? And if you do, for how long will you maintain it?
Many people see success as the end goal. Then when they get there, they find someone else is more successful or better than them and their target moves. So in those cases, perfection and their goal are never within reach. If you flip that around and focus on key milestones and progress, then you can regularly achieve smaller objectives instead of feeling like you never get anywhere.
Summary
There are dozens of other examples we could discuss but hopefully this makes sense. Here is one more quote from the article I mentioned above - "Goals apart from progress are really just random statements on a piece of paper" (https://davidburkus.com/2020/08/why-motivation-doesnt-last/). For our personal lives and as leaders, we need to realize just how important progress really is. Goals are absolutely critical, but I would argue that the real goals should be the measurable milestones along the journey to the end destination.
Make progress the focus. And then if it's one of those goals where when you hit all the milestones you can say you have achieved and completed the goal. But if it's one of the many goals we have in our lives where there really is no end in sight, you can still say you achieved goals, made progress and are engaged in the journey.