So Is Not Persevering
Persevering means steadily moving toward your desired outcome regardless of setbacks or obstacles, adjusting course as you go.
Perseverance is the P in IAP. If you don’t create a plan for getting back on track when you (inevitably) can’t or don’t follow through with your intention, one misstep can easily do you in. Your brain essentially reads it as an “end process” command, so that’s exactly what it directs you to do.
Until your brain learns to read missteps differently, you have to refocus and redirect it to get back on track. That requires System 2 attention.
Here are some steps you can take.
- Pause. Acknowledge what happened. Check to see if you got some new information from the experience. Maybe you did; maybe you didn’t. If you did, how can you incorporate the new information into your intention or action?
. - Consider your desired outcome. Use the Desired Outcome worksheet if you find that helpful. Is this something you really want? If not, go ahead and “end process.” If it is something you want:
. - Make a new commitment to your intention. Communicate your intention to yourself by more than just thinking about it. Fill out a new IAP Card (adjusted based on the new information, if applicable). Read your intention out loud or communicate it to another person.
. - Focus on your new intention, not on the previous one. In fact, tear up the old IAP card and toss it into the trash. Move forward instead of thinking backward.
. - Train your brain to “pause and refresh” by rewarding yourself each time you do it. It’s a habit like any other habit. If your existing habit is to “end process,” you need to reward yourself for changing it to “pause and refresh.”
Setbacks and obstacles are part of life. There’s no point chastising yourself over them, making excuses, or allowing them more power and control than they deserve. Just take a moment to assess your situation, decide what to do next, and take that step.
Perseverance is key to reprogramming your brain’s autopilot. And the key to perseverance is pausing.
I love the flow of your “process”! You have written down whet I go through with my weekly goal setting and review, which means by reading your post I learn more about my process.
Each week I review goals for the previous week, and write new goals. For me, the biggest benefit is during the weekly review I pause and reflect, which really helps me decide where to spend my time and mental energy. When something happens that excites me, I love being able to follow that thread. Often, I follow it at the expense of something on my weekly goals. As part of my weekly review, I look at any goals I didn’t complete, and decide whether to continue, drop, put on the back burner, or do right now.
What has made this system work for me is I have an accountability partner. at least for my creative work, which is most of what I spend my time on. We have been working together 4-5 years now, and both understand that weekly goals often are not met. What is important is we pause and reflect, and decide on what, if anything, we will do next week. We don’t let things slide, unless that is a choice we made.
My reward, which you mention in step 5, is the feedback I get, and the relationship I have built, with my Mastermind and Accountability partner.
Hi Don!
It’s always great to hear from you. Thanks for sharing your weekly process. I’m part of a mastermind group, too. We’ve just celebrated our 3rd year anniversary.
Recently, I gave a presentation on goal-setting to a local design group. I’ve made a note to email you the set of handouts. Based on your comments, you might find something in there that’s useful. We definitely do have to take the brain by the hand, so to speak, to persuade it to do what WE want it to do.