Whether we are athletes or not, we all experience ups and downs wanting achieve our goals. There is not such a thing as making progress in a steady straight line. There will always be happy moments and disappointing moments. If we use disappointing moments as opportunities to learn, then a habit is created. However, if we use disappointing moments to blame others, a habit is equally created.
When we listen to successful people, they all say that the best learning opportunities did not come when they succeeded, rather they
learned the most when they did not meet they goals. It is during these moments when they take a pause to analyze how to make it better to give themselves better chances to succeed next time.
If we respond in anger, blame an opponent, referee, or co-worker for our lack of moving forward, then the mind will create the tendency to continue looking at external factors for our inability to succeed. The more we look for external factors, the stronger such a habit will become. Eventually, we will create our own mental limitation as we are unable to take a deeper look at our own decision making and/or preparation for our difficulty to make progress.
If we are able to look at our own process and learn from such an experience, then we are creating the habit to continually look for ways to improve. We are understanding that it is on US not on THEM that we need to focus on if we want to achieve our goals.
Approach learning by developing good habits:
- Set goals and understand how you will go about them from a timeframe perspective.
- Understand that not meeting your goals is ok as long as you learn from your own process.
- Celebrate your achievements.