Check it off

15 Jan Check it off

My father-in-law has a saying, “Follow your leads until they fulfill or fizzle.” That pretty much sums up the natural progression of most opportunities and ideas in life. Either “it” happens or it doesn’t, but there is a call to action in that saying that empowers us to stick with it. Fittingly, this saying can be applied to the goal that we set for ourselves during this session of boot camp. How are you progressing thus far? With only a couple of weeks left in January, what’s the outlook on achieving your goal?

I’m not sure about you, but I can get really fired up about a new idea or prospect. The clarity I have when I decide something is worth working towards is crystal. Depending on the challenge, I might start Googling or grab a pen and paper to start jotting down the steps to help me get there. Sadly at a certain point, a fog sets in and I’m not really sure why or exactly what I set out to do. It happens somewhere in between knowing what I’m aiming for and the accomplishment. I found an article that addresses this exact scenario. The article is about an app that can be used as a productivity tool, but it also shares five reasons for tracking the progress towards your goal – and we’re not only talking about tracking your food intake. The article shares:

As human beings, we’re hardwired to want to reach the finish line. We crave completion. Crossing items off a to-do list and saying we finished and can move onto the next thing.

However, all this obsession with saying we’re “done” can lead to what’s called Completion bias—where your brain specifically seeks the hit of dopamine you get from crossing off small tasks and ignores working on larger, more complex ones.

But not everything is so easily measured. Large (and often more meaningful) projects don’t get crossed off in a day.

To stay committed to the work that matters most, we need to find ways to measure, track, and feel good about the progress we make every single day.

And that’s only the introduction. Read the full article here to be inspired to take the extra step of tracking and monitoring your progress towards your goal. January is about to be in the second half, so you still have time to regroup or start tracking and have a highlight reel to play at the end of the month. Let’s celebrate the meaningful wins small and big along the way to reaching our goal.

By Victoria Emmitt RD