Where do you find yourself on the mountains of life? When is it time to rest and reflect on your view versus climbing onward?

Where do you find yourself on the mountains of life? When is it time to rest and reflect on your view versus climbing onward?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Chris Holgersson

With over a month of 2024 under your belt, how far have you climbed so far?

Are your feet still on the gas pedal with your head down moving forward, or have you slowed your pace to reassess things?

When we exert ourselves, it is expected that our heart rates will increase. Along with our pulse, our rate of breathing also rises to access the energy for the effort.

Considering that both our beating heart and breathing are continuous, lifelong functions, it is interesting to note that there is always a pause — however brief — between them, to have our bodies work optimally.

EXERCISE:

How often do you stop or slow down to rest and reassess your place in the world?

How and where would doing so help you grow and enjoy many more views along the way?

Life is not a solo performance

Life is not a solo performance. How and where can you collaborate with others to accomplish an important goal?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Emma Day

Carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders is a task too big for anyone. This may be why the biggest sporting events involve teams working together on the common goal of winning. As spectators in the stands or even in a comfy chair watching TV, we feel the excitement of being part of the effort, especially when celebrating a victory.

Where in your life do you operate as a solo performer?

What is your experience of victory and defeat when you are the only one on the field?

How long do these feelings last?

Where in your world do you partner and collaborate with others on a common goal?

When did you last experience the acronym TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More?

EXERCISE:

What areas of your life would being better together make the biggest difference?

Friday Review: GOALS

Friday Review: Goals

How high do you set your goals? How diligently do you pursue them? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.

“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustains life, not the top.”

 

 

 

 

“To better the future, we must disturb the present.”

 

 

 

“Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.”

 

 

 

 

To live only for some future goal is shallow

“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustains life, not the top.”

Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Image from Unsplash by Charlie Hammond

I’ve never climbed a mountain but I’ve learned through watching plenty of nature programs that very little lives at extreme heights.

For the tallest of the world’s mountains, climbers enter the “death zone” when they are over 8,000 meters above sea level. At this height, oxygen is about one third the concentration it is on the ground below.

When one examines more modestly sized mountains, we can readily see the tree line only goes so far before things shift to the cold frosty stuff.

EXERCISE:

How often do you take the time to fully explore and appreciate all the steps on your journey to the top? Where might stops along the way and even deciding not to climb all the way be the wisest approach to take?

Your secret weapon is the patient execution of what everyone knows they should be doing.

“Your secret weapon is the patient execution of what everyone knows they should be doing.”

Rich Litvin, co-author of The Prosperous Coach

Image from Unsplash by Ben White

Secret weapons are the stuff of superheroes and blockbuster movies.

Whether you are a Marvel or DC fan, watching the good guys fight the bad guys on screen or even in a comic book always grabs our attention. Yet — as far as I know — there are no superheroes with patient execution as their secret weapon.

A two-hour film is not the venue to reveal how their secret to success is longer time intervals. We want things big and bold, or we simply go home.

EXERCISE:

Where in your life could patient execution be the secret weapon you need to achieve your most important goals?

What simple actions will you take today to build the momentum to be your own superhero?

To improve your chances of finishing, cut your goal in half

“To improve your chances of finishing, cut your goal in half or double your timeline for completion.”

—Jon Acuff, author of Finish — Give Yourself the Gift of Done

Image from Unsplash by Alice Yamamura

As we enter the halfway point of 2022, how are you progressing on the goals you established in January?

How many have been realized? Where are you on track?

Where have you fallen behind or perhaps given up completely?

To some, today’s quote looks like a cop out or a form of sandbagging. After all, we are supposed to swing for the fences and stretch for the stars if we listen to the most popular advice on achievement. This may be all well and good in theory but not if we never see things through and wallow in regret.

EXERCISE:

Where would cutting your goals down to size or giving yourself more time to complete things dramatically increase the likelihood of finishing?

Managing your own and others’ expectations will be an important consideration to reduce the chances of upsets along the way.

Stop and look up. Ask yourself, is this the mountain I wish to climb

Stop and look up. Ask yourself, is this the mountain I wish to climb?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Netflix.com

In the world of mountain climbing, Nirmal Purja stands in rarified air.

In the recent Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, he and his team attempt to climb the world’s 14 highest peaks with an altitude greater than 8,000 meters (26,247 feet) within a 7-month time frame. The previous record was seven years.

Project Possible, as it is called, tackles numerous personal, social, cultural, and financial obstacles that only add to the monumental physical, mental, and emotional achievements. Insights into Purja’s unstoppable drive and resolve is an inspiration for all of us looking up and within ourselves, to reach for our own personal and professional summits.

EXERCISE:

What are your most mountainous goals and objectives?

How can you engage your own supportive communities to realize your own project possible?

Please watch this inspirational movie and let me know what lessons you take away.

It is good to have an end to journey toward

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

—Ursula K. Le Guin, Late American speculative fiction author

Image from Unsplash by Neal E. Johnson

What are your most important goals for 2022? To what degree have you progressed toward them and how do you feel about your efforts?

How do you expect to feel when you reach the end of your journey and stand on the peaks of your achievements?  What then?

Another goal and then another. How is it possible to remain energized and not be let down soon after we actually hold the prize?

Numerous experts on personal and professional development suggest we focus on growth versus goals.  This shift in perspective supports us in gaining satisfaction from our efforts and milestones along our paths instead of just the pots of gold at our journey’s end.

EXERCISE:

Where would adopting a growth versus a goal mindset enhance your motivation, momentum, and levels of success?

“To better the future, we must disturb the present.”

“To better the future, we must disturb the present.”

—Catherine Booth, 19th Century co-founder of The Salvation Army

Image from Unsplash by Ronnie Overgoor

What comes to mind when you think about goal setting and the achievement of your personal or professional objectives?

What has been your track record in meeting or exceeding your desired intentions?

For many, the course taken is often the path of the New Year’s Resolution — most of which are slowed down or completely stopped by mid-February.

A common reason for giving up may simply be that we believe we must always go big and have tectonic shifts in our reality if we are to realize our dreams of a better future.

Many pioneers in the world of human achievement and behavior suggest it is better to go small.

Books such as Tiny Habits and Atomic Habits point to the power and sustainability of even the smallest of actions taken on a routine basis, producing big, long-term results.

EXERCISE:

How can and will you make small but subtly disruptive changes in your life to help you realize the better future you desire?