Are you too hard on yourself? Do you expect to do everything perfectly the very first time you try something new? You’re not alone. In this world of “I want everything now”, we expect instant perfection in everything.
Here’s a little gym story for you.
Mandy was working on her handstand walk. She was following a little routine her coach prescribed for her.
First, she chalked up her hands. Next, she flipped up onto her hands into a handstand supported by a wall. Then she lowered her legs to the floor, stood up and applied chalk to her hands again.
Next, she stepped a half-inch back from her first attempt and repeated the process. She verified that she was further back from the wall by her handprint left on the floor.
She did this a few more times; just inching out away from the wall a bit with each attempt. On the last attempt, she remained balanced against the wall, but began shifting her body weight from left to right hand several times – like she was walking.
This whole routine was designed to train her body AND her mind to be comfortable walking on her hands. Eventually.
We always want something quickly, but why would we expect to do this the first try? Humans are so impatient, and then we scold ourselves when we can’t meet our internal expectations.
Here’s the thing… We learn more quickly by taking tiny steps. The tiny rewards encourage us to move forward (pun intended).
What tiny step will you take today to move your toward your 2019 resolution?
