Progress, Not Perfection

Let’s talk about goals. We all have goals that we set for ourselves—whether they be things that we would like for ourselves in the present moment, or ones that we would like to see realized in our future, the notion of accomplishment is a motivating factor within all of our lives.

I think we can all agree that setting goals is a healthy habit. It means that we care enough about who we are and what we do to make positive change within our lives, or the lives of others, and are willing to put in the work that we feel is necessary to be the best version of ourselves. Goals provide us with clarity on what is truly important to us, and have the ability to keep us directed, working hard, and instill further inspiration, motivation, and confidence within us.

So yes, having goals is a good thing. I set goals for myself all the time—health and fitness goals, career goals, and goals for my life as a whole. I have a list a mile long in my head of things I want to do, see, and experience, and ways in which I want to improve myself as an individual…so I set goals for myself, consistently track my progress, and continue to work hard to accomplish what I have set out to achieve.

That, right there, is where I believe problems can arise surrounding goals. We track our progress, as we should, but for some reason, we often don’t see signs of progress as “good enough”. Rather, we expect instantaneous results, of sorts, and tend to feel discouraged when we don’t achieve our goals, to their full extent, within a short period of time following the onset of our efforts to do so. We celebrate perceived “perfection”, yet feel a sense of defeat when we are experiencing progress in its place.

With this, we neglect to realize that we’re human, we’re not perfect, and life isn’t perfect. We expect perfection from ourselves in a world where perfection is far from the norm. Speaking from experience, which I’m sure people can relate to, I set and reset fitness goals for myself all the time. Yet, at times, I view setbacks or off-days as a form of defeat, instead of what they truly are, normal. During times like we’re experiencing now, off-days are more normal than ever, where the only things we feel capable of doing are lounging around in comfy clothes, scrolling through TikTok, eating some of our favorite foods, and catching up on our favorite TV shows (you understand, I know you do).

Don’t get me wrong, our willingness to set goals is a great thing, and something that we should continue to do throughout our lives. However, we should also look to see the significance in every step we take to get to that place we want to be, our end-goal. Progress is just as worthy of celebration as success, and when we realize this, the process of accomplishing our goals will be that much more rewarding.

Remember: One step at a time, always.