Think Progress, Not Perfection
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
— MLK Jr.
How’s that fitness goal going? Maybe you’re crushing your goal, or maybe your goal is crushing you. Either way, what matters isn’t where you are today, but where you are going. The idea isn’t to hit a home run every day, but to make a little bit of progress step by step. Hitting singles isn’t as glamorous as hitting a towering home run, but racking up lots of singles gets the job done much more efficiently than hitting one out of the park occasionally. It sounds great to lose 10 pounds in 10 days, but in doing so, has anything really changed in your habits or lifestyle? Fad diets are just that - fads.
I once worked with a young man who lost 40 pounds in 50 days. He then gained it all back. Some years later he applied the lessons he learned from his failed weight loss challenge to forge ahead and finally drop the weight. But too often we want to achieve it all in one fell swoop.
We strive for perfection. We strive to crush our goal and to hit the home run. But visiting your goal isn’t the same as living at your goal. If you can achieve one sustainable habit, practice, or result from your current challenge, then you will have made progress – big progress. As Dr. King said, “Keep moving forward.”