Originally written January, 2021
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The concepts expressed in this article are derived from James Clear’s “Atomic Habits”. Check out his work here.
Welcome back for a new and exciting year, and for most people that simply means putting 2020 behind us and looking forward to what should be a brighter future in 2021. The problem is that although the calendar has turned, a lot of the issues we had still remain. Those difficulties are different for everyone but it’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t been affected in some ways by the pandemic.
With all the hope surrounding the new year, the letdown back into reality can be really tough to deal with and if we aren’t careful, put us in a worse position mentally because we expect immediate results, that really were not logical in the first place.
The boomerang effect that comes with this negative momentum can apply to many things. Maybe we aren’t losing the new year’s weight as quickly as we wanted or even took a step backward. (This is why I tend to not make New Year’s Resolutions in the first place. Too many unrealistic expectations.)
Maybe you are starting a blog like this one and after a wave of enthusiasm and ideas that brought some early results, traffic has dropped and you feel like you want to quit or at least can’t keep the pace you started with.
These periods of negative momentum can come at work or home and can be devastating to your goals, especially that first wave which can be especially crushing after a period of strong enthusiasm.
There are ways to combat this however and it starts with tempering expectations.
The first thing to realize is that things by and large change at a lot slower pace than we think they should. You aren’t going to lose the ten pounds you pledged to lose on New Year’s by the end of the first couple weeks of January.
When we set goals and have good ideas for the future, we like to jump ahead to imagining what achieving that accomplishment will be like and all the accolades and rewards it will bring. Envisioning that gives us a great amount of energy to get started, but what we skip over in our minds is all the work that it is going to take in the meantime to actually achieve that goal.
When the reality of that workload sets in, negative momentum can cause us to stall.
Setting smaller shorter term goals can give us little rewards along the way towards our bigger vision. This will help balance the dopamine and endorphin crash we feel when we realize we aren’t going to achieve the big goal overnight.
For example, this year I am going to try to lose ten pounds but my goal for January is to lose a single pound. This gives me several outs during the month if I have a few bad days to keep on track for my monthly goal. It also gives me two months during the year of safety in case I don’t achieve my monthly goal of down a pound every single month.
By structuring my goal this way, I am not constantly looking at the 10 lb goal and saying to myself “wow, I have a long way to go, that’s going to be a ton of work.” Instead, the mindset is that one pound is a very achievable goal. “I can do this! “
The saying keeping an even keel applies well here.
Also, know that every day is NOT going to be fantastic. You are going to have setbacks. You are going to have other issues that arise that need your attention more on a given day. That is okay!
If we relate this concept to productivity at work, I know that there are going to be days when I am in flow. That is to say I am feeling great, the ideas are flowing and I am getting a ton accomplished in a very short amount of time. Ride those waves of positive momentum and go with it! Take advantage of those times when you are riding high and exploit your productivity to new levels.
Also understand however, that there are going to be days when it feels like the train just isn’t going to move. That’s okay too. On these days, when you just aren’t feeling productive, adjust your expectations. We all have mundane tasks that need to be done that don’t require a lot of thought. Replying to emails, scheduling meetings, etc. Do those things on the days that you are feeling less productive.
By accomplishing smaller, mindless tasks on days when you aren’t feeling productive, you actually get very small dopamine hits from clearing out your inbox or digging out of a hole of backlogged tasks. This actually will help you to start reversing that negative momentum you feel so that you can start moving in a positive direction once again.
By clearing out mindless tasks, you open up bigger space in your head for your bigger projects and as you feel that momentum start to swing back in your favor, you can refocus on getting back into the flow of stronger productivity. Before you know it, you are back on track towards achieving your smaller goals and on pace for your larger ones.
This also allows you to be self-forgiving during the times when you don’t feel like things are going well. This is extremely important. Nobody can be high octane every waking minute of the day. Take advantage of those times that you are and get the most out of them, but also allow yourself to go through those periods of less than optimal performance and allow yourself to recharge.
Now go change your world, one small increment at a time!
